Herald of Steel

Alexander woke up the next morning, got dressed as usual, and was very annoyed to find that the rain had not subsided one bit.

'Maybe I should start building a boat." He lampooned and then slowly made his made to the command tent.

He received the usual reports, the highlight of which was that each group was to get around twenty-five million tustas and then, as he dismissed them.

As everyone was leaving, Melodias, strangely asked for a private audience with Alexander, "Commander, this war has destroyed my group and left me with a paltry one-phalanx formation.

Facing such realities, I have decided that it is no longer possible for us to act as an individual group. Hence I formally ask to join your mercenary group."

'So what's why you were so jittery yesterday?' Alexander finally solved the little puzzle.

Alexander was a bit surprised by the reason Melodias provided and probed, "Leader Melodias are you sure? With the twenty-five million tustas you got, you could build a ten thousand mercenary group."

"Hehe, commander, I don't feel like building anything anymore. All my men died because of me, all because of me." Melodias let out copious amount of sighs of regret.

'The guy's usually so cheerful,' Alexander would not have thought that the sharp, cheerful man held such heavy responsibility and guilt over the death of his soldier.

'Is he suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?" Alexander wondered,

"But this is war. You should know better by now," Alexander reminded him, with a bit of admonishment in his tone.

"Haaaah, I know. But two of my sons died that day. And I didn't even have the time to grieve for them." Melodias's voice turned teary as he confessed, "I have lost the zeal for this life."

"Then why don't you use the money you have to leave this life and settle down? With this amount of money, your family won't have to work for generations," Came the natural, next question.

"Haaah," Melodias seemed to be in a sighing mood, "Because I just cannot leave my men alone. Everyone that could lead them were killed four days ago. And I believe you are the one most qualified to lead them."

'His troops must be very loyal,' Alexander took note of that.

And then smiled, "Melodias if you want to join me, you will become an ordinary captain, and all your wealth- including the twenty-five million tustas will become to the group. Are you okay with that?"

"That…commander that is my personal property," Melodias formed a little wrinkle on his brow at this brazen grab.

But Alexander only smiled, "The twenty-five million was given to individual groups. Since your group is joining mine, naturally its wealth will belong to us."

"...." Melodias's wrinkle turned into a full frown,

He had thought, cleverly by his definition, that he could keep the entire stash while making Alexander foot the bill for the 'new soldiers.'

Alexander noticed the mercenary was having second thoughts and he being interested in buying Melodias, decided to sweeten the deal before he changed his mind, "Melodias, I very much value you and your men, and would love to have them in my team. So, I can offer you a 'signing bonus'."

"Signing bonus?" Melodias looked confused at the modern word, while Alexander explained,

"Yes, signing bonus. It means giving someone who starts a new job some coin. Like a present!"

"Ahha, I see," Melodias nodded understandingly and asked, "So, how much?"

"How about I pay each of the soldiers six months of their current salary- fifteen thousand tustas, your second in command two hundred thousand tustas, and you a million tustas," Alexander offered.

"Hmm, how…," Melodias wanted to test Alexander's limits.

"Sorry, that's my final offer," Alexander raised his hand to stop the little haggling procedure. "Take it or leave it," Alexander had a commanding tone as he held the absolute upper hand in this negotiation, Melodias needing him so much more than him needing Melodias.

"You drive a hard bargain, commander," Melodias made a forced smile and then nodded,

"Okay, you have a deal."

"Excellent, I will have Theocles draw up a contract by today," Alexander then got up and shook Melodias' hand, "Welcome, brother."

"Haha, thank you, leader." Melodias let out a relieved grin

When this news was announced later that afternoon, it caused a little disturbance among the mercenary leaders, especially Petricuno.

"What!! Are you sure leader Melodias?" Petricuno roared loudly, jumping up and down, and shaking his clenched fist after hearing the news.

"I have made this decision after deliberating over it long and hard, leader Petricuno. Please don't try to dissuade me." Melodias held up his hand to cut off the agitated mercenary.

'You think I care whether you join his group or not?' Petricuno screamed in his heart.

The reason for his objection was because he was ultimately unhappy at the even split of the loot.

His one thousand (1500) mercenary group was six times bigger than Melodias's two hundred fifty (250) and so they had essentially each got one-sixth of his income.

This did not sit well with the mercenary who had been hounding Melodias behind the scenes to try and get some of the pie for himself, as he reasoned that since Alcmene and Regias mercenaries with five hundred men each did not get a share of the pie, why puny the leader of a puny two hundred and fifty get it.

But now all money was gone, safely inside Alexander's hand.

In fact, a reason that Melodias had hidden from Alexander was he was not confident in holding onto all twenty-five million tustas from greedy hands.

"Commander, the loot was supposed to be divided evenly among mercenary leaders. But now that there are only four of us, we should divide again," He demanded.

"Hehe, leader Petricuno you are being unreasonable. If one of us died, should we re-distribute our loot again?" Alexander argued.

"That…." The illiterate mercenaries' debating skills were clearly not good as he got stumped by this flawed logic and kept looking at Alexander with both anger and confusion.

"Haahh, fine. Since leader Petricuno wants it so much, let's have a vote to decide it." Alexander had a magnanimous fake smile on his face.

"All in favor please raise your hands," The only hand that rose was Petricuno's.

"All not in favor please raise your hands," He called as he raised his hand, followed by everyone except Petricuno.

"Well, I guess that settles it," Alexander had a gentle smile that masked his sly voice.

He had foreseen this eventuality and had paid the other two a million tustas to get him on his side.

'The game was rigged from the start, hahaha,' Alexander laughed out loud at the eighteen million he had made just like that.

"Leaders, this makes no sense. Why?" Petricuno could not wrap his head around the result.

In his mind, if the loot was re-spit, everyone would benefit- except Alexander.

"The commander's argument convinced me. If I die will you take my loot? And if you die should we take your loot?" Heliptos sneered at the quick-tempered mercenary.

"Petricuno, we have decided and the votes have been cast. Have some self-respect," Menicus scolded the youngster which made the buff leader drop his head and sulk.

Alexander was also surprised by that he could buy the two leaders with just two million.

He initially offered a three-way even split, but Heliptos flattered him by saying he would support any of his actions and Menicus just wanted one million.

But, Petricuno was not the only one causing trouble as in the afternoon even some of his soldiers joined in.

When Alexander's regular troops came to know of the fifteen thousand tustas their new brothers were getting instead of their 'mere' ten thousand, a few started grumbling and asking the same as them.

This made Alexander fly into a rage few had ever seen, as even Cambyses who happened to be nearby looked at Alexander scared.

Alexander clearly smelled this was a plot to shake his authority and he immediately ordered Camius to catch the ringleaders of those spreading the rumors to be gathered in front of his command camp.

He also gave him several names, all Pallidus loyalists to be rounded up.

Then Menes was ordered to get the garrison in front of his command tent where Alexander began his very first trial over the group of ten.

He first addressed the crowd, "Some of you have been asking why you are getting ten, while the new soldiers are getting fifteen thousand tustas. It's because they have bought us twenty-five million tustas. And if you can bring us that kind of money, you too can get fifteen thousand tustas"

This produced a few chuckles and smirks.

Then he pointed to the group standing in front of him, "These men are guilty of sedition as proven by multiple witnesses (all paid by Camius.)."

"And now I ask Stratos Pallidus to administer twenty canning onto their bare buttock. And as stratos he can choose to pardon two people of his choosing" Alexander craftily gave that option.

'What! How did he know it was me?' Pallidus was a bit shaken at the mention of his name.

But was relieved that he could relieve his two closest confidants.

And like the fool he was, he took the bait- hook, line, and sinker pardoning two and leaving his other three loyalists under the merciless beating of the cane, which caused a deep fracture to appear between the six men.

The idiot never thought to say,' I will punish them all equally as per the leader's command.'

Alexander only watched Pallidus excuse the two main ring leaders, from the side, ironically happy by this event.