Herald of Steel

After ironing things out with Gelene, Alexander moved on to his last interest of the day, Ophenia.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked turning to the fair woman.

"That…" Ophenia's eyes darted uncomfortably at the question, and then finally picking up the courage, she said, "Um, master. I want to tell this to you alone."

This predictable raised some eyebrows as people like Cambyses wondered what could be so important that Ophenia couldn't say out aloud in front of them.

Cambyses and Ophenia usually got along very well as the latter didn't have twists in her heart, unlike someone else, a person that recently got a deal that Cambyses found too favorable.

Alexander too was surprised as he couldn't think of anything Ophenia might have to say that would necessitate such secrecy.

But deciding to respect Ophenia's wishes he gestured to the other three, "It's getting a bit stuffy in here. So, why don't you three take a small stroll? I will call you when done."

Thus the three vacated the room, with Cambyses even saying with a bit of sneer, "Let's go girls.

The divine son wants to enjoy his sacred priestess."

'It was Tayin that wanted you out. How come I became the bad guy?' Alexander lampooned, while Ophenia looked even more guilty, though she did not stop the exodus.

Once alone, Alexander turned to Ophenia and asked with a raised eyebrow, "So, what's the secret?"

But instead of getting an answer, he saw Ophenia get down and start scribbling on a piece of papyrus.

Alexander looked at the papyrus with curiosity, wondering what information could be so valuable, and noticed Ophenia writing what he supposed to be mostly ingredients, and their preparation.

Soon after, the girl was done and handing over the scroll to Alexander, Ophenia explained, "Master, remember I told you that the Temple of Shiva was famous for its aphrodisiac medicine? Well, this is how it's made!"

Alexander's hands subconsciously jerked at this explosive news as he couldn't believe such a gold mine had fallen in his hand.

Instead of asking further questions, he immediately pointed his eyes to the papyrus, trying to read and memorize its contents as soon as possible.

And he found both the ingredients common and the manufacturing process nothing too difficult.

There was cutting and mixing the plants, boiling them at a low, simmering temperature, leaving them to fermentation in a cold, dark place for some time, again boiling them to drive all the water away, and at last mashing the leftover pulp and adding it another ingredient.

This solid would then be mixed with wine and sold in batches.

"Ho…how did you get this?" Alexander's voice had never shaken ever since he had transmigrated.

And thus it was a testament to how valuable this information was.

In his previous life, men had done crazy things to obtain greater mastery over his sexual prowess, ranging from eating ordinary things like raw ginseng, and other herbs and plants, to bizarre things like cooked and in some extreme cases raw animal penis and balls, including those of domestic animals like bulls and horse to exotic ones bears and tigers, to insane things like cannibalism because these mad men believed that it would make obtain the other's prowess as his own.

And from what Ophenia had told him about the riches of the Shiva temple and how powerful men would tend to curry favor with it, it seemed this world was no different.

"Once I was offered a reward of my choice for my good performance." Ophenia said the word 'performance' with heavy quotations implying what kind of performance that was and continued, "And I asked them to teach me how to make the Divine Nectar."

"Oh? As I recall you were never officially part of the temple. So nobody objected to letting you learn their most treasured secrets?" Alexander asked the obvious question.

Given the cooking security of the temple as described by Ophenia, Alexander didn't find them to be the type to be flippant about such matters.

"Of course, some objected." Ophenia nodded and then with a sly smile added, "But after I spent a bit of time convincing them in private, they assented."

It was clear as day what Opehnia did behind some doors.

'*Sigh*,' Alexander let out a mouthful sigh inside his heart hearing this, not blaming Ophenia for what she did to survive, but only feeling pity.

Then Alexander asked his next question, "But why did you want to learn the technique? You didn't know you were ever gonna escape."

"I simply felt that knowing their secret would be a good card to have," Ophenia did this when she was fifteen, showing the girl was far smarter than she was given credit for.

Ophenia might be simple, but no idiot.

Or else the temple would have claimed her long ago.

Alexander was impressed by the foresight displayed by Ophenia and then asked her on how to properly use the stuff, "So, tell me how does the medicine work? And how potent is its effect? And how does it have any hidden dangers?"

Ophenia answered after a slight nod, "The medicine is ingested orally, about a spoonful before sex, by the man. And it makes them harder than usual and prevents wilting for hours, while also reducing the rate of release. Regular usage also boosts the size of the male organ, the volume, the richness of the release, and even its taste and smell."

Alexander raised a suggestive eyebrow at Ophenia's detailed explanation, making an educated guess on how the girl was able to know so much about a very personal man's product.

But Alexander did not need to guess as with a tither Ophenia gave him the answer, "Hehe, master seems to have correctly guessed how I know so much. Yes, it's because I personally experienced it." She confirmed with a grinning nod.

And then delineated, "Promising acolytes, whom I would have to serve, would be regularly given the medicine and these are the changes I observed over the few years I did so. They went from tiny phimosis pee-pees to monstrous, horse-like cocks. And I mean real, manly cocks." Ophenia's eyes twinkled teasingly at Alexander as she said so.

Then she sultrily added. "I mean master has impressive stuff down there no doubt. But in front of them, it would be considered small, hehe."

Ophenia never hid her past from Alexander and would always honestly tell Alexander of her past experience, whether Alexander found it to his liking or not because she felt confident that she would never have to hide her true identity from her master in fear of being shunned.

It was unknown if Ophenia was saying this to demonstrate the drug's capabilities or just egging Alexander on to regularly ingest the drug by brushing his ego, whose ultimate beneficiary would be her.

Maybe it was a mixture of both as she certainly craved an ever bigger Alexander to carve out her insides and make her ascend to high heaven.

And to say this tactic didn't work affect would be a lie.

No man in the world wanted to be called small and innately craved the self-gratification of being called big or even better, somewhere along the lines of the biggest in the world.

Believing that Ophenia would not lie to him just to tease him, Alexander decided to console himself by saying stuff like those were all artificial, 'steroid' pumped fakes, while he was all natural and real and that it was not the size that mattered but how one used it, and much more.

Was it like calling the grapes sour?

Maybe.

Alexander's slight pout didn't escape Ophenia as she let a torrent of pleased giggles at the display, finding his master's reaction quite cute.

Ophenia sometimes, albeit a little guiltily, thought that the death of her father and his fiance was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Because if they were alive, she would never have met Alexander, a man she truly fell in love with.

Ophenia used to think she loved her deceased fiance Samaras, but as her heart bloomed for Alexander she began to understand what true love was.

True love was one where just hearing the name of the beloved would set one's heart fluttering.

True love was one where you didn't need to think if you loved the beloved, you would know it in your heart, in your body, and in your soul.

True love was one where just seeing the other's face would make your day.

And for Ophenia, Alexander was that kind of true love.

Unlike her finance, who, being raised in a chaste society, would have certainly looked at her with disgust and repulsion if he were to ever know the truth, Alexander would only smooth her by lovingly caressing her silky hair when she would recount her various abuses, all his disgust, and hatred directed towards the temple, with her only receiving pity and love.