Herald of Steel

Alexander introduced Melodias to his group the day he made the request to join his group and was greeted with open arms by everyone.

Alexander then promoted him to a stratos of the Cantagenans and transferred his unit to reinforce the thousand-men unit.

Alexander also asked Camius to secretly find possible replacements for Melodias, Petricuno and Helptos should the need to replace them arise.

And like that, while Alexander was busy performing his day-to-day work, he didn't even notice how dusk crept up on him.

As Alexander was busy tidying up for the day, suddenly Melodias strode up to his tent and shouted, "Commander, our scouts found someone important! Come quickly."

"Hmm, what's the rush?" Alexander slowly came out of the tent, intrigued.

"Let us talk on the way. They are at the medical camp," Melodias gestured.

"Okay, lead the way," Alexander nodded.

And so as the duo sped towards as Melodias bought him upto speed, "A few hours ago, one of our scout teams, the ones sent to the north, came across something unusual. They noticed a group of about twenty horsemen being chased by a continent of Adhanian riders."

"Presuming that the only people who would be riding horses and be attacked by the Adhanians would be the Sycarians, they intercepted and chased off the riders."

Melodias then revealed a rueful smile, "It was only then they realized these were no Sycarians. They were in fact Adhanians."

"Adhanians?" Alexander asked confused. Given the drought had claimed a large number of Adhania's livestock, the only people who would be riding horses would be nobles and rich merchants.

So, why was Adhania attacking its own people?

And very soon Alexander landed himself on the answer as his face lighted up in comprehension.

"It seems commander has landed on the answer by himself, haha, as expected." Melodias noticed the look of understanding dawn on Alexander's face and confirmed his suspicion.

"The rebels are so still so close? Why?" Alexander had expected them to have vanished into the wind by now.

"Well, you can ask that answer by yourself. It seems we have caught the biggest fish of all," Melodias chuckled.

"Ptolomy?" Alexander asked boldly and incredulously.

"Hehehe, it seems so," Melodias nodded and smiled.

And as Alexander arrived, the crowd that had gathered around the clinic parted like the red sea, letting him be escorted right to the bed that contained a thin, gaunt man.

The man was clearly haggard, with sunken cheeks, dry lips, and weary eyes.

As the frail man turned to look at Alexander, he could be seen shaking and struggling to stay awake.

"Are you Ptolomy?" Alexander wasted no time as he asked the translator with him to translate.

Yes, the people of Thesos and Adhania spoke close but ultimately different languages.

This was also how the scouts managed to understand that these were not Sycarians.

And as a footnote, all the scouts that one or two translators with them.

"As I have repeatedly told you, I am Ankesh. I am the heir to the Zantum family in Leguna and I came to Adhan to secure some food from Pasha Muazz." He softly repeated, his voice rough and coarse.

"Heh, you came to ask for food riding on food?" Melodias sneered.

Logic dictated that if you were truly starved for food, you would kill the largest consumers of food first, like the horse the man was riding.

"A noble without a horse is not a noble," He tried to play it off as a pride thing.

"Well, where's the food then?" Alexander pointed out that they found no food with them.

"*Sigh*, we would not get any." The man dejected shook his head.

"Hmm, then why were you attacked?" Alexander asked the most important question.

"They were bandits!" The man shook his body in anger as he said the word.

Then loudly thanked, "Commander, I haven't got the opportunity yet to thank you for saving me. The Zantum family will never forget this favor," He excitedly added.

"Hmm, my men told me the ones who attacked you were around fifty horsemen. Tell me, when did bandits horsemen start running round Adhan, the jewel of the East?" Alexander sneered.

"....." The man opened and closed his mouth like a fish trying to breathe but no word came out.

Alexander had hit it right on the head- how could there be bandits rich enough to own and operate horses so close to the capital of the East?

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Melodias sneered at the man, mimicking how the man was flapping his mouth.

"Ahaaa haaa," Finally the cadaverous man let off a nervous laugh and said, "The commander has immaculate eyes. I too was surprised by this. Bandits so near the capital! Who would have thought."

*Sigh*" He then let out a heavy sigh, "This drought has destroyed Adhania. Even the capital is not safe."

This poor display of acting and coherent storytelling did not impress anyone, especially Alexander who only flatly looked at the man and said,

"Is the story you are going with? I had thought the man who dared to rebel against the son of Ramuh would be more...impressive,"

He uttered the last word with a smirk and noticed the veins on the man's twitch uncontrollably at this as if he was trying to bottle down the anger.

'Darm, plebeian monkey," Alexander's disdainful gaze made the royal's blood boil.

He was always accustomed to looking at others like that, and had never he thought would be on the receiving end of it.

"What I said is the truth commander," This time instead of looking directly at Alexander, the man hid his eyes.

'Timid, incompetent and a fool,' Alexander made his evaluation of the man.

Timid because the man tended avoided eye contact when talking to Alexander. He had expected a royal to look him directly in the eye and stare him down, something that displayed confidence and conviction.

Incompetent because of the lousy story he was spewing to save his hide. If you are gonna tell a story to save yourself, make it a good one, one that doesn't burst with the slightest bit of scrutiny.

And third, a fool, because even when he understood he had lost and his lies were exposed, he continued to perpetuate them, risking drawing the ire of his captors.

'How did this guy pull off a coup?' Alexander asked in bewilderment in his heart.

And the answer was because the rebel needed a figurehead, a symbol to rally behind.

And that someone needed to be of the royal bloodline and thus Ptolomy was chosen, who was not stupid, but also not the sharpest shed in the tool.

"We have also found a large, golden seal, what's that?" Melodias was getting a bit fed up with the lies.

​ "That's my family's seal, Please give it back. You will be handsomely compensated," The man seemed strangely agitated by that mention.

"It's not the royal seal?" Alexander smirked as he felt he had hit the jackpot.

If Ptolomy had stolen the seal in an attempt to carry on the rebellion, landing it in Alexander's hands meant he could issue formal orders in Adhania just like Amenheraft could.

".....Never…" The noble clenched out the words.

"Hmmm, okay, I believe you," Alexander looked at the man with a smile and the man looked at the sunny grin with a look that seemed to say that his lord and savor had finally come.

"Thank you….commander, thank you. I knew you were a reasonable and trustworthy man the first time I met you. I was surprised by how young you were the first time I laid my eyes on you and thought how could the mercenaries choose such a young brat, but I can see why they did it. You are almost a noble," Ptolomy grinned and nodded, feeling extremely proud at the diversion he had in his mind managed to pull off.

"Your flattery skills need work, Your Majesty," Alexander gave an angry snigger.

No one would use the words 'a young brat' and 'almost a noble' to flatter anybody.

"Wha…?" The unkempt man widened his eyes and mouth.

"A guy named Azaradm came to us to negotiate. Do you know him? We can just show him to you, " Alexander had a sly smile and a guileful glint in his eyes.

"Wha…." Ptolomy's blood ran cold at the mention of this name.

Of course, he knew Azaradm, Amenheraft's most trusted negotiator, and someone he had imprisoned himself.

'What's that guy doing here? Is it a bluff?' He tried to think of the best-case scenario.

Seeing even this did not break the man, Alexander attacked one last time, "You know, seems like a high noble pish posh asshole who probably wipes his butt with gold leaves kinda guy. Tall, has a mustache, tanned skin, and looks at you like you are a bug under his shoes," Alexander vulgarly described the man that walked as if he owned the very ground beneath it.

This last description was enough to break the man's delusion once and for all, as he confessed, "Don't hand him over to me. I will confess everything."

He then took a deep breath and his meek tone turned all of a sudden to that of an imperious, regal one as he introduced himself, "Yes, I am Ptolomy. And as the rightful king of Adhania, I thank you for rescuing me from the rebels."

'Able to spew such nonsense even if this situation, what a guy? A true politician' Alexander was half impressed at how the guy was able to spin the story.