Herald of Steel



Alexander talked to the two for some while, but it appeared they would just not be able to make these payments.

So then the obvious answer was to decrease the amount of goods sold, right?

But Alexander also did not want to do this because then much of the materials would just be left in his storehouse gathering dust or simply rotting.

It was not like Alexander had many other people lining up.

And as for the reason why Alexander did not simply wait till the two nobles sold their goods for a profit and had the cash to pay him back, well that was not how trades with other nobles worked.

You see, most nobles did not buy things using cash upfront.

But using credit.

And this went for everything.

From everyday essentials like food and drinks to clothes, perfumes, jewelry, and sometimes even mercenaries, where a noble would gather the money after defeating a foe and looting his possessions.

And this practice meant that all the noble's suppliers, his tailors, cooks, jewelers, etc, everyone would send him their invoice at the end of the year, listing the total bill for the entire year, and ask him to pay.

So from this, it could be seen that for Pasha Farzah and Lady Inayah to recoup their investment would take at least a year.

And that was if one was being optimistic.

Because many nobles, due to this practice of buying a year's worth of goods on credit would regularly go broke.

Or be almost always close to it.

This happened because as they did not need to pay anything upfront in cash, most were unable to pace themselves for they would figure a year was a long time away.

So they would freely spend money that they might not even have, kind of like how having a credit card made one spend more, but much more extreme.

And this practice meant that most nobles, unable to pay all their dues on time, would delay many payments by a long time, possibly entire years.

Hence that was not a viable strategy for Alexander who needed some gold right now.

Which also made him feel like he was dealing with paupers.

He kind of felt like he was China or India in the 1700-1800s, while the two nobles were the impoverished European powers, one who wanted a lot of things, but could offer things of little interest to the other.

But it was what it was, and with Alexander unable to find a better alternative, he was ultimately forced to give some concessions.

Thus Alexander demanded the two following things.

"Okay, I will reduce the prices by some."

"But in exchange, I want 50,000 men from either province be relocated here."

"Not slaves, but free men."

"Their new home will be Zanzan."

What Alexander was basically asking was for Pasha Farzah and Lady Inayah to gather all the undesirables of the society- the beggars, the urchins, and the most abundant them of all, homeless vagrants, and send them his way.

Alexander was sure he could find some use for them, whether as industry workers, farmers, or even soldiers.

He will need a lot of men when he attacks Tibias the next year after all.

This the two nobles had little problem agreeing with.

The drought had produced not tens of thousands, but millions of people who had become broke and destitute, many of whom had become a menace to society as they resorted to various crimes such as thievery and even outright banditry to survive.

So Alexander taking them off their hand was him going them a favor.

And as for the dangers of taking in half and even full-fledged criminals, Pasha Farzah was there to offer his two cents.

"Brat! Be careful with these people."

"Many of these scums might have started as criminals because they were forced."

"But that does not mean the easy money has not corrupted them."

"For many, the taste has grown on them."

Alexander gave a thoughtful nod to this, though he was not too worried as he was confident in being able to control these men given he had a proper city guard, unlike the others.

After the first request, his next ask was this,

"I want a copy or original volume of about 2,000 books. I will pay equal to each book's weight in gold."

And when asked about the reason why, Alexander only chuckled and said, "Well, maybe I'll be able to learn some more things from them, haha."

While his real reason was to resell them after making copies using the printing press he intended to invent as quickly as he got some time in his hand.

Pasha Farzah and Lady Inayah both had no objection to this, as they figured that Alexander really wanted these books to increase the number in his possession and thus boost his noble image.

After all, showing off expensive works of literature to one's friends was many nobles' favorite pass time.

So with these two demands met, the monumental deal totaling around 800 million ropals was concluded.

And in the following days, everything seemed to be going smoothly for Alexander, with the only notable thing in Alexander's radar being the upcoming departure of Pasha Farzah and the group.

Until suddenly, one late morning in early June, he was informed that two envoys, one from Tibias and the other from Cantagena were here to see him.

This was not really a bolt out of nowhere as Alexander had a pretty good hunch why they were here.

And so instead of his usual council members, the next day, Alexander chose to greet them along with Pasha Farzah, and the Queen Mother in his mansion.

"Welcome dignitaries from Tibias and Cantagena," Alexander greeted with a light smile in a jovial tone, gazing at the men, one solidly built clean-shaven man with a chilling look in his eyes, and the other with a refined, scholarly aura.

While the men very rudely completely ignored Alexander and turned to address the two people sitting next to him.

"Greetings, Lord Farzah. It pleases me greatly that the gods have favored your health," The scholarly clean-shaven man eloquently bowed to the Lord of Matrak.

While the muscular dignitary sent a charming smile toward Seelima,

"The Imperial Mother is as fresh and radiant as ever."

Clearly, the four knew each other.

Which was not surprising given Pasha Farzah and Queen Mother had colluded with Tibias and Cantagena to bring Amenheraft down.

"It is always good to see a fellow acquaintance from afar, Lord Leosydas," It was the Queen Mother who returned the greeting in a mellifluous tone, though an instant later it turned into a mocking sneer, "But I never knew you did not know the basic courtesy to first reply to the person who greeted you."

Clearly, the rude attitude the men displayed to Alexander had not gone unnoticed.

And whatever her thoughts about Alexander may be, the Queen Mother would a fool not to try save face of her retainers against two envoys who were very obviously here with ulterior intentions.

Hearing this unpleasant retort, Leosydas did not blink an eye, while his counterpart quickly stepped in to address the situation.

"Haha, well, well, this must be Alexander." He said sizing him up with a chuckle, and then with a pleasant smile said, "To see a fellow Cantagenan here at the heart of Adhania would make any Thesian proud. Petricuno speaks very highly of you."

Everyone had keenly noticed that neither man had addressed Alexander as Lord, as if to implicitly deny that title, and this action pretty much confirmed their intention of coming here.

But Alexander did not let such frivolities show up on his face, instead sent an equally pleasant smile and inquired, "He is a good man. And a great soldier. How is he?"

Alexander was not surprised by the mention of the mercenary leader as it was very likely the man had been thoroughly interrogated about the happenings in Adhania when he returned.

And it was only natural for Alexander's name to be in that report.

"Good. Good. Though not quite as good as you seem to be, hehe," The Cantagenan envoy took a small jab, to which Alexander returned the favor by saying,

"I did invite Petricuno to share in my spoils too. But the man seemed to be far more interested in fighting Exolas. How is that going by the way?" Alexander had a mocking tone to his inquiry.

And the reason for this was because Alexander knew from Petricuno the war there was not going well there.

And it had its intended effect as the scholarly man's lips twitched in frustration for the first time at being reminded of their troubles, and failed to control himself as he quite rudely said, "It would be going far better if you were even half as patriotic as Petricuno."

Clearly, the man knew quite well of Alexander's battlefield accomplishments and accused him of defecting to the other side.

While Alexander only gave a loud, boisterous laughter, and said,

"Hahaha, well I wouldn't be so sure. I'm not a Cantagenan, so who is to say I would not support Exolas? Hahaha."

Alexander made it clear that the racial or ethnicity card would not work against him.

Finally, once this mutual exchange of barbs was finished, it was Pasha Farzah who stepped in to work as a mediator and asked,

"So what brings Lord Leosydas and Lord Klysar to this little part of the world?"

To which Leosydas very bluntly replied, "You promised Zanzan would belong to us."