Herald of Steel

The following few days breezed past Alexander in a flurry of movements as the schemes against him continued unabated.

The riots in the city continued, much to his irritation, once again picking up steam after only a slight pause of few days.

Just like Miss Linda had predicted, after a few well known thugs in the city were publicly hanged, the public was placated, and then quickly spurred on, as to their great surprise they found that all of these were lackeys of Alexander.

At least that was what was proclaimed by the town crier, who read out the verdict for these tyrants of society,

"The accused stand guilty of colluding with a foreign power and betraying this great city. They are the ones guilty of trying to burn our great abode down and stealing from its people. In light of all these crimes, the Lady of the House, Her Esteemed Honor Lady Linda, and His Grace Parker Heeat decrees that they shall all be hung from the rope until death. Glory to the Family! Glory to Lady Linda."

And the cheer of rejoice that the people uttered at this was something to be heard.

Even if they did not fully believe the claim, they were still more than happy to see these torments of their neighborhood go.

Achillas had cleverly chosen some very high profile nay doers to take the blame for his own kerfuffle, and so even if these scums were innocent in this particular incident, they still very much deserved what came to them.

Also, as Miss Linda cleared house, it could be very clearly seen by the words the town crier used, Miss Linda had already started to proclaim herself as the ruler of Caira, and the head of the Margraves.

Which was called simply the family by the general public, because, to their knowledge, there was really only one family that the common folks knew about.

And with the might and good reputation of the 'Family' behind her, the shrewd lady quickly managed to sweep even the death of thousands of men, women, and children under the rug.

The people were truly fickle.

And then the burning and looting began once more, however now much more controlled and supervised, so the people got to rage and vent without letting it get out of control.

They would usually break a few doors, set shops of a few shops, preferably which belonged to people who supported or even at some point supported Lady Miranda, throw stones at others, and return home after beating a few thugs down.

And while they did all these, under the leadership of Miss Linda's goons, they would also shout various demands and slogans, such as urging the lady to hang Alexander or wanting the army to storm the mansion.

Although that last option was made a whole lot more difficult due to the several days that Alexander's men had to prepare their fortifications.

During this time, the men had smashed open the stone paved streets using giant hammers and chisels and dug not one but multiple rows of ditches, each filled with large, sharp stakes into the soft ground underneath, save for only a thin plot of land allowing for safe passage, barely enough for a single man.

Then immediately past that, they had palisades, which were raised mounds of earth, on top of which they built wooden ramparts manned by crossbowmen and even a few 'Instant bowmen'.

And lastly, they 'renovated' the various houses along the streets, removing many of the walls and then garrisoning small teams of eight to ten in there, so that they could quickly respond to any untoward situation within the lines quickly.

The young Remus had basically turned the frontline into a fortress- with rows of ditches, multiple overlapping fields of fire, and houses that were basically mini castles, all interconnected with each other via a series of small tunnels and passageways.

If they were all properly manned, the 5,000 legionnaires might not be able to push back 20 million men like Remus had exaggeratedly boasted, but 20,000 would surely not be a problem at all.

In fact, even 200,000 men would have a tough time breaking through this.

And Lord Parker of course knew this, as he could see the huge construction efforts from all the way back of the city- huge mounds of earth being moved, giant walls of wood and stone being constructed, and men dressed in blue joining the ranks wave after wave like the never ending sea.

It was a sight that certainly managed to alarm him.

And he felt that it had been a mistake to listen to his wife.

Miss Linda's instance on face and pride had likely caused them to miss their best chance of killing Alexander- when he was most unprepared.

But, 'Better late than never.'

Living on this mantra, the lord sent a messenger from his camp to his wife, asking her to see if she could do anything about it from the inside.

And the messenger to his credit managed to complete his mission, passing Alexander's two set checkpoints without any difficulty.

He did this by disguising himself as a fruit vendor delivering supplies to the mansion and hiding his wax coated message inside one of the many pears he was carrying on his head.

The clever man had cut open and hollowed out one of the insides.

And upon receiving this, the ever cunning lady got to quickly work, meeting with Lord Nolan and urging him to apprehend Alexander.

"Grandpa… have the elders put pressure on Miranda. Tell her to make Alexander dismantle the defenses and declare his neutrality. This is a family matter… why is an outsider like him getting involved?"

"Have them protest about having so many foreign soldiers in our private premises. This is like they are being held hostage by the man. Protest!"

Miss Linda repeated the word and then turned to look at the elder gentleman with cold, chilly eyes.

The lady was very angry as her husband's recent message had her riled up.

Lord Parker had not been the most diplomatic he had ever been in his letter, and quite frankly and openly blamed Miss Linda for their current predicament.

Something the prideful lady did not at all like that.

Especially when she knew deep down they were right

Alexander's extensive defenses had caught this lady, who had little experience in warfare, off guard.

She now understood that should not have wasted so much time trying to get the public on her side and then kill him.

In hindsight, she should have killed Alexander and then got the people to riot, 'celebrating' the man's demise.

As for how would that have happened, it was not important anymore.

What was done, was done.

Now, it was time to try and fix it.

But the toolsmith that Miss Linda came to fix try and this, Lord Nolan, seemed to be in a tough spot, feeling greatly burdened by the request.

So in a gruff tone, he rebuked the acting spoilt girl, "You say we should protest? How? You said it yourself- he has 5,000 to 6,000 men. You think Alexander will simply tuck his tail and run just because we asked nicely? Foolish! He will truly take us hostage if we protest!"

Despite his old age, Lord Nolan was quite afraid of dying, and would never think of putting himself in harm's way.

At least not one so high risk.

And many of his kins and colleagues were of the same flock.

However this was not an acceptable answer to Miss Linda. So depressing her lips and reddening eyes, she tried to use her charms to reverse the decision.

Something that to her credit worked, as seeing this, the man softened his stance.

"Okay, okay, let me see what I can." Flashing his palms he reassured, as he quickly advised,"Have the people continue to riot and cause trouble in the city. If the people cause enough chaos, then I might be able to convince all those rotten bones to agree to….. capture Alexander."

For some reason, Lord Nolan did not want to say 'kill', as he thought it might be unlucky.

After all, it was sacrilegious to harm one's guest in Sybarian tradition.

"Granpa is the best!" And although this was not exactly what she wanted, Miss Linda managed to hide the disappointment and acrimony deep inside her, instead loudly cheered at the old man's efforts, jumping up to hug and then kiss him on the cheeks.

A gesture that managed to quite please the Lord.

After all, which man would not like being loved by such a lovely woman?

It was also these subtle acts that had played no small role in helping Lord Nolan sway his opinion even more toward Miss Linda.

While Miss Linda had the smarts to use her charms like this, Lady Miranda did not, usually being very reserved and even appearing cold.

So in the next few days, the intensity of the riots suddenly increased, while at the same time, Lord Nolan invited Alexander to attend various meetings with many of the elders of the family.

And the contents of these meetings were predictable and drool.

As well as ultimately fruitless.

Because Alexander of course did not bulge an inch on his stance.