Herald of Steel



Alexander had guessed as much the moment he heard the two envoys announce themselves, taking particular note of how they had come together.

Clearly, it was to create a united voice

And the feeling was very much more reinforced by the two's attitudes.

Tibias and Cantagena had paid the price and now were clearly unhappy that their prize was being denied.

And to be fair, that was indeed the original deal between the Adhanian conspirators and the foreign powers.

Pasha Farzah and the Queen Mother had really promised to relinquish control of Zanzan in exchange for removing Alozmer (the former king) and Amenheraft from power.

So one might say the two envoys were in the right here.

But there was a slight catch.

And that catch was that technically it was not Cantagena, or more specifically the Cantagenan general Agapios who had defeated Amenheraft.

And it was the same with Tibias.

They were asked to hold back Amenheraft until the capital could be taken, but that was not what had technically occurred.

Amenherft had managed to disengage and return to Adhan to defend it.

Now this was admittedly a loophole and a gray area that bordered more on black than white, as the intended result had been achieved.

But nevertheless, this was the rhetoric that Alexander and the other two decided to go with after discussing it the previous day.

After all, neither Pasha Farzah nor Seelima would favor handing Zanzan over to the two powers over letting Alxx control it.

The latter was much a better option for them after all.

Thus once the demand was made, the Queen Mother replied in a cold hard voice without the slightest bit of warmth, "The deal was that you would take Adhan and depose Amenheraft."

"But your general failed to do either, losing two battles and letting the capital be recaptured."

"So which promise are you talking about exactly?"

While Pasha Farzah immediately picked up the conversation and said with heavy nods,

"That's right. Instead, it was Lord Alexander who accomplished both tasks, snatching Adhan back and dethroning Amenheraft."

"And that's why we gifted him Zanzan."

"We have fulfilled our promise to the letter."

"......" Hearing this, the two envoys were dumbstruck for a moment.

They did not think the opposite side would be this shameless.

"He could only do it with our soldiers. It is only with Cantagenan and Tibias blood that the brat sits where he is today. What bullshit are you sprouting?" The Cantagenan envoy Klysar could not control his emotions as he cried out loud indignantly.

While a very angry Leosydas also gruffly said,

"Your country killed hundreds of thousands of my people in the last three years. And yet we chose to trust you."

"And this is how you repay us!"

It appeared that the two men were unwilling to accept this reasoning.

And given the amount they sacrificed, it was not hard to understand why.

As for Alexander, who heard the outburst, he observed that the two men complemented each other quite nicely.

And so he decided to split the men up and deal with them individually.

As such he decided to end the meeting there, saying, "It seems the two sirs are tired. Perhaps we can continue the meeting at a later date."

He said this because knowing handing over any territory was a non-starter, Alexander had made prior plans to offer deals to them.

And seeing the current circumstances, he feared that if he said them aloud to both of them, they would swindle a lot from him.

So, with that ended the meeting there.

And as both groups discussed how to further proceed, a few days later Alexander met with the Cantagenan envoy alone.

"Lord Klysar, as a fellow Thesian, I believe that it is only natural I came to discuss the issue about Zanzan with you first," Alexander said with a smile, under the setting and with the same people around him.

"Thank you, Lord Alexander. And I apologize for my earlier remarks." The man seemed much milder now, having calmed down from his earlier tirade.

"Haha…." Alexander first chuckled but did not excuse the man, as he got to the real point, "Well then, may I know what interest does your city-state have in acquiring Zanzan? Because it is quite a long way from Cantagena. What will you do with it?"

This point had always puzzled him, even back when Ptolomy had raised the issue back when Alexander was negotiating the piece.

Klysar gave a bit of pause at the inquiry, and after turning his head to meet the eyes of both Pasha Farzah and Seelima, he began with a sigh, "As Lord Alexander had said yesterday, our war against Exolas is not going well."

"What happens is Exolas regularly launches yearly campaigns against us, and we, being unable to beat them at land, are forced to husband all our people inside under the protection of the formidable walls."

"And this has worked till now, as Exolas has been yet unable to breach our walls and finish us off."

"And this is where the good part ends."

"Because the bad part is that being unable to conquer our city, the Exolites then turn their focus to the undefended countryside, razing villages, destroying crops, and inflicting massive damages to our economy."

"And though we can recover some of it once they leave, the repeated yearly attacks are starting to affect us more and more over time."

"This is because Exolas is able to destroy our lands faster than can rebuild them."

"And so our only real hope of turning this hopeless situation is finding land beyond Thesos, beyond the reach of Exolas from which we can extract economic dividends and keep our markets going."

"That's why we Zanzan. To survive."

From the man's answer, Alexander could finally understand the reason behind his outburst from a few days.

They had spent so much on Agapios and the war, all for a last roll of the die, and now that they had won, Alexander was here denying them.

Alexander could certainly sympathize with that.

But that did not mean he could acquiesce to their demand.

Everyone had their problems, and Alexander would not sacrifice his future for the sake of others.

If it was choosing between him or them, Alexander would choose him every time over a million times over.

And he clearly let this know to the Cantagenan envoy.

"My heartfelt sympathies go out to you and all fellow Cantagenans. And I hope the gods deal justice on Exolas." He first said some flowery words, before unequivocally saying,

"But Lord Envoy should also clearly understand that me giving up Zanzan is not an option."

"And no amount of talks, deals, and promises will make that happen."

"That is the reality here."

"And I hope you can recognize that."

Alexander flatly and very plainly laid out.

And it made the opposite man purse his lips in helplessness.

He knew coming here was a long shot, but he still had to try.

And it seemed to have failed.

But Alexander's next words proved that the man might have jumped to the conclusion too fast.

As the young lord said, "But we are willing to trade with Cantagena. Adhnaia is slowly opening up to the world, and we are certainly interested in trading with a great power like Cantagena. So what do you say?"

And this produced a great glow from the man.

It was not as great getting Zanzan, but it was quite close to it.

Or it could even be argued that this way was better as they would not even have to garrison soldiers to protect the newly conquered lands.

Whichever it was, if Cantagnena was able to tap into this massive market, it would be undoubtedly quite the boon.

Because Cantagena's biggest trading commodity after agriculture was its pottery, which was famous throughout the world.

So if they could sell these to Adhania and particularly the nobility, their economy was surely to revitalize, or at the least stabilize.

And the best thing was that it was not something really affected by the constant attacks from Exolas.

Potters could just comfortably stay inside the walled city and continue building.

And hence the man become quite vivacious after Alexander's offer, and over the next three days, they ironed out many of the details.

With the final deal being that Pasha Farzah, Lady Inayah, and Alexander, all three would officially open their ports to Cantagenan vessels, and even give them special privileges, such as reduced tariffs.

Klysar had wanted these ports to receive only Cantagenans vessels, in order to form an effective monopoly on the goods from Thesos, but was declined.

Instead, a monetary concession was settled upon.

This special consideration was made as a way for Adhania to mend relations with Cantagenan after a bit of arbitrarily breaking their deal.

While, in the meantime, Alexander also showed Klysar some of Zanzan's specialties, such as paper, soap, and lingerie,but not all, like iron, as he was cautious about selling weapons to others.

But Klysar would not have likely minded anyway, because of how impressed he was of one particular thing- Brown sugar.

Klysar was enough of an accomplished businessman to know the value this product would fetch in the market.

And reagainding this sweetener, Alexander additionally even offered this deal,

"If Cantagena is willing to sign a twenty-year peace treaty with us, and promise not to aid our enemies in any way, we are willing to disclose the full recipe for making it."

And it made the man's heart skip a beat.