Herald of Steel



The nobles slung accusations all over one another, each trying to pin the blame on the other.

And they all rejected the notion that since they fought in an army as one, they all had a part in the loss.

No, they were determined to find that one scapegoat.

And once they failed to reach a consensus on that, the bickering devolved into trying to get the promised compensation from Faruq.

"You swore to the gods, now you are reneging on it?" Ural shouted in fury as Faruq made it clear that he would also not be handing over the mines.

"I said I would give it to you if we won. Did we win?" Faruq hissed back, reminding Ural of the terms of their agreement, before spreading his arms and adding, "Besides, without winning, I likely won't be able to get Kuleef's throne. So, there is no point in discussing that."

Faruq wanted to make Ural agree to a second attack tomorrow by saying this.

"Bullshit! You said we just needed to participate. You never uttered the word 'win'," Ural vehemently shot back, before turning to address the room and say, "Everyone here can attest!" Ural hoped for support among the nobles present in an effort to dismiss Faruq's scheme to weasel out of the situation.

But unfortunately for him, the people involved only returned him a blank look.

The people involved were all having a hard time remembering the exact words used by Faruq, whether it was just participating, or was it specifically winning.

And since they were required to swear by the gods, none wanted to blurt something half-heartedly and then make a mistake.

So, when Ural asked the people who had witnessed the swear to confirm the oath, these very people started to disagree with themselves.

"Was it win or participate?"

"I remember it was just Faruq saying him to attack,"

"Hmm, but I definitely did hear Faruq say win at some point,"

"Perhaps he said it outside the oath,"

The nobles were too confused to reach a consensus among themselves.

The root cause of this was because Faruq had said both, he had asked Ural to attack Alexander's flank in exchange for the mines, and he had also promised Lord Liakit and Lord Nyantim five times their usual reward if they could win.

And now the different parties were mixing all the statements altogether, some out of genuine forgetfulness, some like Faruq opportunistically.

And this event right now proved very clearly why written contracts were so important.

It not only made the agreed-upon deal much harder to deny, but it also made the agreement much more reliable, as even if the other side was fully trustworthy, people many times simply forgot or misremembered.

The same bickering and mud-slinging went on for hours, the men at one point simply repeating their points as they whirled in cycles, with none building an inch, until finally, tired, frustrated, and in a bad mood, Faruq pulled out his trump card.

"If you keep talking like this, I will simply take my ships and go! You can find your own way."

"...." For a moment the group went silent, stunned that Faruq would pull such a cheap and underhanded move.

And then they burst into outraged clamor,

"You scoundrel! We came here to assist you under your urging!"

"Brat! How dare you? To think we were supposed to be allies!"

"*Thoo*, *thoo*, *thoo*, To think we answered the call of such a man."

It appeared the alliance between Kuleef and various nobles of Zanzan was truly over, at least for the near future.

Which was good news for Alexander as he slept soundly in his small tent.

And while his enemy disintegrated unbeknownst to him, the young man still diligently got up at the crack of dawn the next morning, ready to give a fight if it came to it.

"*Argghhh*," But before that Alexander had to first get out of bed, which proved to be a challenge, as he half moaned in pain when by force of habit he got up using his right thigh, which sent a stinging pain coursing through his body, reminding him of his injury.

And so, as a tool of convenience, he picked up the wooden crutch standing beside his bed to help alleviate the pressure on that leg, before refreshing himself, and then asking one of the guards outside to help him put on his armor.

"Let's go to the medical clinic," Once fully suited up, Alexander afterward asked the temporary guard captain Cypus to escort him, intending to visit Hemicus.

He had wanted to visit the man yesterday but could not find the time or energy then.

Alexander made his way slowly to the clinic situated on the east side of the camp and found the hygiene of the place relatively to his liking.

The surrounding had a slight smell of limestone, as milk of limestone, which was made by heating limestone and adding water to it was sprinkled all over the floor to act as a relatively good disinfectant.

The environment around the camp also seemed quiet and relaxing, as the facilities were easily adequate to deal with the current number of casualties.

And amongst the scores of tents laid out in rows, only a few slaves and servants could be seen moving about, probably checking up on the patients and delivering food and medicine to anyone that needed it.

The relative calm around the place also had to do with the time, as since it was just getting bright, and the people were just waking up.

And this made it so that Alexander had managed to avoid most of the crowd, and he was soon in front of a small inconspicuous tent, with the only thing giving away its specialty being the single guard posited outside.

"My lord," This guard who was dozing off in his chair, suddenly in a startled manner got up when he heard footsteps approach and was almost mortified to see it was Alexander.

Falling asleep during one's watch duty was a court martial offensive.

But Alexander was not in the mood to prosecute this nameless guy, and he understood being posted at sentry duty after a heavy day's fighting was brutal for anyone, and so he just waved his hand dismissively, before opening the tent flaps and directly entering the tent.

"Alex…I meant… my lord, you are hurt?" The moment Alexander entered the camp, he was greeted by the shocked voice, of the now-in-charge of the clinic, Hiperteom, who seemed to be getting up from his bed just beside Hemicus.

And this half-doctor was shocked to see Alexander with a crutch on his right side, one because it was Alexander who was injured and two because he, as the head of the clinic had no idea about it.

He considered it a gross oversight on his part.

"Yes. A small spear wound. I will depend on you to clean it properly today," Alexander appeared unfazed by the shocked greeting and simply replied in a nonchalant voice.

His injury was known to only the highest echelons of the group

"Of course, of course," The man vigorously nodded as he then turned to look at Hemicus and lamented, "Aiya, first it was Hemicus, and now, to think even the lord got hurt. *Sigh*, I saw the battle from the camp. It was brutal."

He shook his head in dismay.

"Yes, it was. But we won," Alexander justified all the losses and injuries with this word, before moving on to the reason he was here.

"So, how is he?" He asked about Hemicus's condition.

"He has gotten better now. But at one point it was looking really shaky," Hiperteom let out a breath of relief, before recounting the whole story.

"When he came here, at first it was all good. The wounds were neither big nor in any critical areas, and so we just cleaned the wounds, cauterized them, poured strong spirit over them, and then bandaged them." He began, adding,

"And then, after we finished, because he got tired from the painful procedure, we simply asked him to have a bit to eat and sleep here for a bit."

"Which he did."

"But it was after a while, in his sleep, that he started developing a raging fever at around midnight." Hiperteom sounded alarmed, as he continued, "His body began to flare up, and he started muttering strange things and cried pained moans. At times his body would even jerk unnaturally."

"I even thought he was being possessed!" Hiperteom at one point confessed, as he considered performing an exorcism.

"But then I remembered your teaching, and decided to treat fevers as you taught us." He then said, recounting what he actually did,

"So I stayed the whole night here, pouring cold water over his body, and occasionally rubbing his entire body with a wet cloth."

"And then finally, at around dawn, the fever began to recede, and I decided to take a short nap right here."

Hiperteom ended his report, looking both relieved and haggard.

"You did well," And Alexander simply tapped the man on the shoulders to give his thanks, while he himself let out a sigh of relief.

'To think someone as strong as Hemicus, and built like a bull as him would be so close to death after three non-critical wounds. *Sigh*, this world is really dangerous.' Alexander was once again reminded of the power of bacteria, viruses, and open wounds without antiseptics and most importantly antibiotics.

Even an innocent knife cut could develop into tetanus, not even mentioning the wound he had on him right now.