Herald of Steel

After Alexander was done dealing with the kitchen matters, he turned to Cambyses, "How's the recruitment going? Is Bartholomew doing his job okay?"

Cambyses replied with a smile, "Yes. I asked him to make a list of the teams and their captains.

We also talked to Menes about it and he consented to the transfer."

But then she added with a touch of concern, "Though his grumpy face said that he will take it up with you tomorrow."

Alexander simply brushed off such concerns, "Menes isn't hard to manage. The man has a good heart and he will understand."

Gelene and Mean didn't understand what the couple were talking about and although curious, they knew it wasn't their place to ask.

After this short exchange, Alexander turned to Gelene, his main interest for the day.

The black beauty had been relatively quiet up until now, mostly due to the stunning success of Alexander that flamed her ambition and by extension dampened her desire to leave him for Menes.

But Alexander feared if he did not give her any tangible benefits soon, she will start having second thoughts, especially when she would see Alexander favoring the other girls and not her.

So, Alexander decided to give the tall girl something to keep herself busy with.

"Gelene, how goes your day?" Alexander asked with a smile.

"Oh, they would go much faster if the pasha would favor me more," Gelene sultrily said, sending a coy, wounded look at Alexander.

'Ungrateful bitch! Alex stuffs your three holes full every three days and it's still not enough?' Cambyses cursed at Gelene in her heart.

While she and Gelene would regularly share Alexander, having very intimate moments together and showing each other their most shameful sides, neither woman liked each.

No, they were just one level from disliking each other as at best they tolerated each other.

Gelene because she wanted to wrap Alexander between her fingers and Cambyses because she knew the kind of poisonous black snake Gelene was.

But unlike his wife, Alexander seemed to agree with Gelene. "Haha, yes, yes, I have been favoring the other girls more than you. My apologies, my apologies." He bowed.

But this sentence of apparent humility didn't please anyone, especially Gelene, who felt a shiver down her spine at Alexander lowering his head.

She had known Alexander long enough to know when this man would be real with his modesty and when he would be fake.

And as Gelene felt Cambyses's narrowed, gleeful eyes taunting her, she knew she had said too much.

'Darn, seeing the other girls get so much made me too jealous.' Gelene cursed at herself and quickly wanted to rectify her mistake.

"Master…I..did.." She blurted in a half-panicked voice, but she was quickly cut off.

"So to make it up to you I have decided to make you run a business for me!" Alexander announced with a light smile.

"...." Gelene's mouth went silent for a bit as she let her brain process the words.

'Wait, this isn't like Alexander,' She suspiciously muttered in her heart as she had assumed Alexander would start to taunt her.

Outwardly though, responding to Alexander's words, she sat up straight, her eyes sharp and focused, and asked, "What does master want me to do?"

Alexander looked at Gelene with a light smile, thinking to himself, 'Only you can save yourself Gelene.'

Hearing Gelene was interested, he then got up to get some papyrus scrolls from his table drawer, which he gave to Gelene.

Alexander then asked, "How much do you know about designing clothes?"

This out-of-the-blue question confused Gelene but thinking Alexander was going to put her up to make a clothing shop she enthusiastically said, "I can make clothes. I can sew lots of clothes. No problem!"

But the next, this excitement turned to bafflement and a little bit of horror as Alexander simply shook his head, "No, no. Not making clothes. Designing clothes."

"Designing?" Gelene repeated the word, knowing the meaning but understanding little about designing.

"Umm, designing. You will design and make new clothes. And moreover designing a new kind of cloth." Alexander elucidated

He then gestured, "Open the scroll and look."

Hence, Gelene unveiled the scroll under the gaze of curious eyes and the unfamiliar pictures on them caused her eyebrows to frown a bit.

In the first scrolls, there was a picture of what looked like a bare-breasted woman with an arrow next to her pointing to two semicircular-shaped fabrics with some strings attached to them at the ends.

Then immediately below the two pictures was the woman wearing this fabric on her chest, with the description, 'Wearing a bra.'

Gelene then switched to the next scroll which had the picture of a woman's crotch and next to it a triangular piece of cloth with the same kind of strings as before.

And then below it the woman wearing it with the description, 'Wearing a panty'.

After Gelene scanned and re-scanned the few pictures several times, and read the various labels that named what was what, she intuitively understood the purpose of the clothes and tried to visualize how this new kind of cloth would work.

Then, feeling confident that she had understood the general purpose of the clothes, Gelene with a big grin, Gelene giggled, "Hehe, master is truly goddess Gaia's blessed. That's why he takes care of us women so well."

This was a double innuendo joke towards Alexander, both praising his new invention and joking that he had made such a personal piece of feminine clothing.

Alexander only smirked at Gelene and then asked, "So, have you understood what these are?"

"Yes, the picture and the description were quite clear," Gelene cleverly said with a nod.

Then asked, "Does master want me to sell these bras and panties?"

Gelene had a bit of surprise at her tone as selling underwear was not common at this time

Nobles had the corset which they would specifically order, but normally women would wrap their chests with a piece of makeshift cloth when doing work to prevent the tits from bouncing around, and underneath they would just wear a kind of loincloth, used mostly as a crude sanitary napkin during their periods.

This absence of the two most erotic pieces of women clothes had bothered Alexander since he got together with Cambyses and he wanted to introduce them right away.

"Yes, particularly the bras." Alexander pointed.

Then he gave his reason, "The corset that's in use nowadays, with all its wires, padding, and metal bracings is too expensive for the general populace. And it is far too constricting for everyday use in real life."

"And that's where this cheap but comfortable bra comes in. Unlike the breast wrapping that obstructs blood flow to the mammary glands and constricts its growth, this new design snuggly wraps around the breast and helps with blood circulation, letting the breasts naturally grow bigger."

"In addition, wearing this will alleviate neck pains, reduce skin irritation and itching and also prevent sagging of the breasts." Alexander gave a perfect salesman's pitch.

"Wow, Alex, you sure you weren't a woman in your previous life?" Cambyses joked hearing Alexander, though the admiration in her eyes was unmistakable.

"Heh, now that I think about it I remember once seeing Alex crossdressing while wearing a corset," Mean too joined her mistress with a sneer as she said the completely made-up story.

She was especially salty about this 'bra' because Alexander's new invention was of no use to her.

No, she felt like it was an insult to her, who, despite being older than Cambyses had a washboard for a chest, with just two small, perky nipples attached to her chest.

"Hahaha," Mean's fabricated story had the intended effect as it produced a string of laughter even from Ophenia.

Hearing the girls laugh at his expense, Alexander playfully swore in his heart. 'This pipsqueak and her mistress! Just because they got no frontal asset…hmmmp.'

After being done with the laughs, Gelene, at last, returned to the topic at hand, "How does master want me to sell these?"

And Alexander gave the answer, "I will give you fifty slave seamstresses. First, you are to have them make some practice ones and test them within the palace. You can give them as free samples to the various staff, and ask them about the size, comfort, and general feeling of the underwear."

"Then, like clothes you will have to come up with the different sizes of the bra. Since breast sizes differ quite a bit, the choice of cup volume must be varied enough so people can easily buy one without needing to order one specifically for them." Alexander pointed out.

"And after all that's been done, you will have to contact cloth suppliers, make enough stock of the thing, launch an advertising campaign to let people know what the brand new thing you are selling, and after all that can you open shop." Alexander gave a general road map to Gelene's shop.