Herald of Steel



Alexander had designed the autopsy room with features meant to best maximize the ease of discovery in there.

This primarily meant having adequate light supply, which was achieved by having no roof, while also having other ease of life options such as a slanted floor to help drain the blood into the sewers below, a huge built-in pyre to burn the bodies, that coincidentally also benefited with having no roof as it allowed the fumes to escape easily, and lastly, the know-how from Alexander about how to actually document the findings.

Now, back to the first point, having no permanent roof did mean having to contend with rain and snow.

And to combat them there were thick heavy rolls of leather attached to the upper ends of the room which could be quickly unfolded to act as a makeshift shade during emergencies, where the rolls would be supported by poles that could be attached to the ground as supports.

This way a perfect balance between utility and shelter from the elements could be achieved.

Alexander showed all these to Pasha Farzah, and afterward, feeling everything had been seen decided that it was time to return, but not before turning to Jupetus to ask one more thing.

"Oh, are the men not here today?"

Here he was referring to the personel resposible for processign the cadavers.

"Ah! They must have gone home for lunch." Jupetus instantly replied with a slight exclamation in her voice, before asking, "Should I call them my lord?"

Going to one's home to have lunch and then returning to work was quite common in this time period.

Because cooking something in the morning and keeping it hot and delicious was very hard without the use of modern technology like microwaves, and modern materials like plastic tupperware.

"Ah, then no need. Tell Golam that I said hello." Alexander lightly brushed aside Jupetus's suggestion, and then turned to Pasha Farzah with a smile and gestured,

"Well, then lord Pasha. Should we return? We have taken a lot of time here, and I'm sure the Queen mother is getting angry haha!"

Farzah naturally nodded to this suggestion, and with Jueptus escorting them up to the front gate, and bidding them goodbye, the tour of the clinic came to an end.

And it was a visit to be remembered, especially for Pasha Farzah, who had a complex feeling regarding Alexander's experiments.

On one hand, he felt glad that the boy trusted him enough to show this.

But on the other hand, he was somewhat fearful that something bad might happen to Alexander due to his bad karma.

But ultimately he decided to keep these feelings inside him for now.

Because whatever happened, the blame would lay squarely on Alexander, while all the benefits this 'human cutting' as he liked to call it would bring would be shared with all.

So if someone was willing to anger the gods and perform taboo research and then willingly share those results, why would he be a fool and try to stop it?

After all, there was also the consideration that he was no spring chicken, and if Alexander could discover some great medicine that would enable him to live longer, Pasha Farzah would be even willing to donate slaves as live test subjects with no qualms.

And it was because Alexander suspected the pasha might be sympathetic to his cause like this that he had decided to show the project in the first place, pretty sure his secret would be safe with the man.

While the man in question was currently jokingly saying in his mind,

'Maybe the brat will discover the secrets to immortality, haha.'

As Alexander was having a completely different train of thought.

As he passed the rows and rows of rooms with doctors in them, he could not help but reminisce about how the people were at first afraid to come to the clinic because they heard it was run by gravediggers, even though only a small percentage of them were doctors.

But there was that inherent social fear of the term gravedigger, which was further expounded recently because these men had been responsible for spreading the plague, though through no fault of their own.

It had only happened because some of the gravediggers, who were responsible for digging the mass graves, had inevitably caught the plagues, and acted as vectors, which worked to further spread their fear.

But these fears were slowly being quashed.

Both by policies such as sermons in the temples dispelling these fear which were undertaken by Alexander, and also by the fact that the sick people of Zanzan really had nowhere else to go.

And once the people started coming here and started seeing results, the once ostracised group of society was finally beginning to be accepted, a result that managed to produce a sense of happiness and achievement in Alexander.

And with these thoughts, the duo finally approached the carriage that they found had been moved to under a shaded tree some distance away, with the ladies seemingly fanning themselves with their palms likely due to the high heat of the summer noon.

"Ah, my lords! You are back. And here we were just starting to bet on which sickness you had fallen to back there!" The Queen mother did not even attempt to hide her anger as she greeted the two men with dripping sarcasm.

This was because they had promised a short stopover of just ten to twenty minutes, whereas in reality, she estimated the men had been gone for over two hours.

She had even thought of ordering the carriage to turn around and take them home, leaving the two behind.

Because she could not remember the last time she was this hungry, hot, sweating, and tired.

And the scowl that she sent toward both of them made her thoughts terrifyingly clear.

While Lady Inayah and even Nanazin gave them disapproving looks.

And Alexander and Pasha Farzah could only apologize profusely for the delay, as then without further ado quickly urged the carriage to start.

While on their way to the eastern district, Pasha Farzah regaled the scenes he had seen inside, as somewhat of a way to entertain the currently sour mature women, where he praised Zanzan's medical achievement, and recounted the cleanliness practiced there, much to the eager ears of a crowd of three.

And finally, after a short journey, the carriage arrived at the eastern barracks, which was let through without any trouble, and the vehicle was then parked right next to a large, lavish building.

"My lords, my ladies, what took you so long? We were getting worried!" To greet them there was Menes right in at reception, dressed in perfect military gear, while the question managed to again produce another slight on the Queen Mother's face for she was reminded of how she was forced to waste two hours of her time under the hot summer sun with an empty stomach.

If it had not been Alexander and Farzah, but anyone else, even Ptolomy, she would have absolutely given them an earful.

But her sour mood quickly improved once they were ushered inside, where the temperature was much cooler due to the shade and many potted plants, as well as due to the servants coming to fan them using fans made of large dried palm leaves.

"Sorry, we got caught up in visiting another place," It was Alexander who answered Menes's inquiry, and a while later was led to a large feast that had been prepared in anticipation of the group's arrival.

The items included all the usual delicacies, and though lunch was late by a couple of hours, it was nevertheless delicious.

"Brat! Show us the new weapons! I've been waiting to see that for ages." But ultimately they were not here for the food.

So the moment the old man had finished praising the sweet pudding, he shouted out the real reason they were here.

"Sure," Alexander gave a slight nod, and so a while later the group was introduced to the crossbow, and instant bow.

The tests that were performed here were almost identical to the ones Alexander had shown Lady Miranda, with even the sales pitch being the same, and the only exception here was that the instant bow was also used by the cavalry to show their viability as horse archers.

For this demonstration, Alexander had men carrying the weapon ride and shoot at straw targets at a distance, and though many missed, many hit too.

"As you can see, the ability to fire five times in a row makes it possible for much less trained men to compete with highly trained horsemen. Because even if they miss, they can adjust their aim instantly before the enemy has the time to move too far." Alexander pointed out and was met with agreeing nods from the other four.

Now, the platitudes of praises about the two weapons need not be said, as Lady Miranda and Lord Janus had done that already, with the only exceptional quote being from Pasha Farzah, who dubbed the crossbow as 'The weapon that will win us the war'.

He said this because using crossbows, it was possible to use cheap, disposable units like peasants to easily defend forts and strongholds.

Meaning even a poorly trained, outnumbered force could defend a position using this weapon.

Pasha Farzah certainly had the military foresight to recognize the game-changing advantage of that.

The group then stayed for a while watching these demonstrations, until finally, dusk began to fall on Zanzan, and the group at last decided to finally wrap up this exciting day, at long last ending the long tour.