Herald of Steel

Alexander was not aware of the salt inside some of the leader's hearts, not that he would have cared anyway even if he knew.

He had somewhat predicted this, but he had already eaten it, and there was no way he was gonna spit it out.

So, what if some of them were a bit sour in heart?

What could the leaders realistically do to him anyway?

Nothing!

Done with delivering the unpleasant report, Alexander felt he should give some good news as he then shuffled some parchment over and commented, "On a cheerier note, our food situation seems to have improved. It's now quite good."

"Hmm, let's see," Alexander confirmed the numbers on the parchment and said, "We have managed to collect about four hundred tons of horse meat from roughly two thousand dead horses. That should be enough to last four-five weeks."

The report that the leaders gave him also contained slaves and pack animals that too needed to be fed, which Alexander took note of, particularly the large number of Cantagenan slaves and servants but did not loudly announce their numbers.

Alexander arrived at the four-five week number by estimating that the ten thousand men and the various slaves servants would get about one kilogram of meat a day.

p "Hmm, eating so much meat for so many days…that's.." Melodias frowned a bit.

Even these ancient people knew such a meat-heavy diet was certainly not healthy.

It was devoid of any carbohydrates like grains and vitamins from any fruits and vegetables, and would likely cause constipation and even scurvy.

"Thank the stars you are not starving, brat," Menicus scolded Melodias, unhappy at this nit-picking.

"That's right, It is because of the divine knowledge from commander that we have escaped hunger and starvation. You are being too greedy, leader Menicus," Heliptos enthusiastically joined Menicus berating Melodias.

"Yes, yes, my bad." Melodias, being the mild-tempered man he was, quickly backed down.

"We do have some grain," Alexander interjected the lively discussion, "But, I have decided to feed it to the animals instead."

"Commander is prudent. We very much need those animals and they cannot eat meat. They should get the grain," Petricuno remarked at the correct decision.

Others too had looks of approval at the decision.

Alexander here added, "But do not worry, all of you will get grains in your meals. We can spare a bit and your health is very important for the proper functioning of the army."

"Haha, commander is truly the best," Heliptos let out a laugh of genuine praise at this good news and many others followed.

But one Melodias lamented, "*Sigh*, if only we had carried more grain at the beginning," which drew similar sympathetic sighs from others.

Alexander noticed that Melodias, the usually carefree spirit was somewhat agitated and nit-picking today, so he joked, "Leader Melodias, you seem to be in a bad mood today. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed today? Hahaha,"

Others too joined him, which produced a slight flush on Melodias's face as he nervously laughed Alexander off, "N..no commander, it's nothing, ha..haha..ha, it's nothing," He repeated to emphasize.

Though Alexander could clearly sense something was definitely the matter, as if Melodias was holding back something.

But he chose to respect Melodias's privacy and not pry.

Instead, his mind floated to ask the question, 'Why did we have such an acute shortage of grain?'

And the answer was 'Because we did not carry much in the first place.'

The reason for this on the surface bad planning was because the goal of this campaign was to take advantage of the royal coup in Adhan and enter the capital at lightning speed and thus reinforce the weaker Ptolomy, who had prayed for the alliance's intervention for massive land and wealth concessions.

To achieve this great speed, Agapios had, rightly, in favor of speed and maneuverability, discarded any large supply lines, instead choosing to carry just five days of rations and deciding to forage and steal from the local populace to make up for any shortages.

But Agapios had grossly misjudged the severity of the drought Adhania was facing and quickly ran out of food.

His only saving grace was that at the very start he had managed to sack the prosperous port of Acme, which- being a major trade and supply hub had large stores of grain hordes by the rich merchants and local nobility, rich merchants and local nobility who Agapios had promptly slaughtered and relieved them of their possession,

That grain had tidied them over till now, but Alexander lampooned how even that stock was running critically low.

But he knew there was little point moping about it, but instead chose to return his focus to the meeting and addressed, "Fellow leaders, the grain situation is bad, but we can survive. One tiny silver lining of losing forty thousand men in one day is that we now have much less mouth to feed." He stated in a schadenfreude tone, which made the others draw rueful smiles.

Alexander then advised, "I hope each of you will try to reduce the number of mouths even more. Especially the female slaves and servants, who are of little value now, and will only slow us down."

"In my case, I have noticed Cantagenans bought a huge number of slaves and servants, and I intend to let go of most of them, as they are nothing but a burden now. And I hope all of you can follow." Alexander issued a heartless command.

And Alexander's loyal follower Heliptos agreed immediately, "I agree, commander. I will keep the bare minimum, and dismiss all the extra freeloaders."

Though the others gave an anemic response as they were not keen on discarding their slaves.

In reality, this was not because they disagreed with Alexander, but because mercenaries typically contained no or very few non-combat participants and almost everyone in there had a role to fill.

For example, taking Alexander's case, he was both a squad captain and a slave under Nestoras.

Mean was Cambyses- the leader's daughter's slave, and a skilled medical staff by her own right, in addition to being also proficient in household chores.

The various female slaves present were also needed to maintain the proper working of the group, from cooking, to sewing, to cleaning.

Many female slaves also helped relieve stress, particularly for the captains and the leader.

Like Gelene was Octavius's exclusive slave but she had also occasionally served Nestoras before his groin infection.

Alexander had even seen the father-son duo in a devil's threesome with her, which inwardly disgusted him, not particularly by the act, but by the incestuous nature of it.

Next Melodias reported a second good news, "Commander, my scouts have reportedly found a viable route to Acme. A few locals seem to have given them similar directions."

This brought some much-needed cheer into everyone's hearts as they felt flight was still possible.

"Good, assign those riders double the food rations today," Alexander decided to reward the scouts.

He also noticed Heliptos's face droop low in shame, clearly indicating he had failed in his promise to find any guides among the Cantagenans.

Petricuno did not let go of this opportunity and taunted, "Leader Heliptos, how about you? Hehe, any luck?", which only managed to draw a cold, freezing look from the greedy mercenary.

Noticing his own faction's man in a dilemma, Alexander here decided to help him out a bit, "Leader Heliptos, you have only looked at the soldiers, Also remember to check the servants and slaves. Some of them are very capable and likely held significant positions before."

Being helped out of his predicament, Heliptos immediately praised him, albeit a bit exaggeratedly, "Thank you commander for your sagacious advice," he loudly proclaimed.

All present men observed, recorded, and analyzed this little exchange, and each drew their individual conclusion.

But Alexander himself ignored this bootlicking and issued further orders, "Leader Melodias, remember to not just scouts south. Send scouts also north. The land bridge to Cantagena is up north."

They had previously come via south, landing and taking Acme, and now, because they were unfamiliar with the terrain, they intended to return via the same route, hoping to catch or steal ships from Acme or its nearby cities and then sail to Cantagena.

"Commander, are you thinking of going north?" Petricuno exclaimed in surprise and a little afraid.

The north of Adhania was very treacherous, full of marshes, and rocky terrains, and around winter like now, prone to massive snowstorms.

It was not a nice place to march to.

But Alexander alleviated the panicked mercenary, "Rest assured, Perticuno, if nothing changes we will surely march south. But the south is a peninsula and I don't like the idea of being trapped in a foreign land surrounded on three sides by the sea. So, the northern route is just a precaution."

He then revealed his fears, "Remember, we sacked Acme just two weeks ago and I am afraid of the number of ships we will find there or around there."

This cold analysis bought the leaders back to reality as they began to ruminate that maybe just reaching Acme will not achieve salvation.

"Is this commander's intuition?" Menicus asked cautiously.

'If he was right about the last battle, what's stopping him from being right a second time,' The veteran mercenary thought prudently.

"Haha, I just want to keep my options open. It even could be Adhania is waiting with an army up north, waiting to catch us off guard as we march south, haha." Alexander chuckled at the unlikely hypothetical scenario.

"Okay, commander, I will send half of them today north," Melodias was convinced by Alexander's reason.