Herald of Steel



Lady Inayah's frank analysis of their situation made the Queen Mother think about a problem she had not yet considered.

The noble lady was 100% correct in saying that Amenheraft would start to mint his own coin.

And the would-be result of that was made very clear in Lady Inayah's following analysis.

"The former king might be as poor as a beggar now, but that does not mean this situation will last too long." She began, explaining,

"Because at one point, all the tithes from all the temples across the empire will be coming to him."

"They might not have arrived right now due to the provinces still recovering from the drought and making no income, but within a few years, they will start coming in without a doubt."

"And that will start making Amenherft fabulously rich."

Lady Inayah ominously hypothesized as a rich Amenheraft meant an Amenheraft with a big army.

And she was still not yet finished with her doom forecast, as she continued,

"Even if we assume not all the rest of the nine provinces pay their due, at least a few provinces will surely do."

"Many of the rulers of those provinces seriously believe in Amenheraft's divinity and will surely proclaim their allegiance to their king."

"Which also means that all our ropals will start getting remelted into other coins, decreasing their supply and with it our influence."

"Until finally, we are left with nothing!"

As she finished, Lady Inayah's final sentence made a chill run through the Queen Mother's spine, and her hands involuntarily jerked.

Losing her power and influence was undoubtedly her biggest nightmare.

"So you are saying that by using the gold that Alexander gets from abroad, we can keep minting ropals and so keep our supply?" The Queen Mother had enough grasp of economics to understand that concept.

"Yes!" Came a swift nod, adding, "And not only abroad. We should also focus on doing trade inside our country,"

"Because by doing so we will be able to keep the supply of ropals high as we will not accept any payments except in ropals."

"Meaning everyone will need to keep ropals with them, and not remelt them to other coins."

'While trading with other countries with give us the gold we will need to contend with the nine provinces."

"Because you know, our biggest gold mines are in the Jahruma and Sahum provinces."

"And that's also why I wanted Alexander to share some of his inventions." Lady Inayah finished with a slant eyeing on Alexander.

It seemed that just as the Queen Mother had predicted, the merchant lady had indeed made the offer after a great deal of thought, confident that the increase in production of all those new products would bring great benefits to them.

As for which particular products she was eyeing, well the specifics could wait.

"Increase trade? With other countries? Like you always wanted?" The Queen Mother, ignoring all the other analyses, chose to focus on those specific words and sent a sharp look upon hearing it.

The reason for this was because she was one of the hardline traditionalists who saw foreign trade as one of the core evils, and it was one of the very few core ideologies that she disagreed with Lady Inayah.

Though it was funny given she had no problem collaborating with foreign powers to oust Alozmer.

But anyway, people did have contradictory personalities, and in the case of Seelima, she justified the deal as only a one-time thing, as opposed to doing regular trade.

"Haha, well a rising tide raises all ships." In response to the Queen Mother's mild glare, Lady Inayah only innocently chuckled the reply, playing it off like she was only an innocent bystander benefitting… which was kind of true.

"Hmph! I sure the rising tide bought with it a navy too!" The Queen Mother lightly snorted at this wag, but ultimately did not object to the proposal.

Because deep down she knew her counterpart was right.

The ropal was no longer the ultra-valuable currency it once was.

And if they did not take measures now, it plummeting through the ground was just around the corner.

And the Queen Mother would rather let 'these foreign influences' as she liked to put it, enter Adhania than let Amenheraft win so easily.

But she also felt there was still one last roll of the die for her to play.

Hence putting on a coy look, she flitted her eyes, and in a warm voice said, "Lord Alexander…are you willing to sell some of the gold you get? We will even buy it at a higher price, say 52,000 to the kilo."

It seemed the calculating woman saw the privilege of minting the ropal worth that higher price.

"Haha," And Alexander's empty laugh as a reply said all that he thought about the deal.

Don't mention a measly 2,000 to the kg, even an additional 20,000 would not move him enough to take the deal.

Which made the Queen Mother pull a wounded, helpless smile.

The expression was so natural, and she looked so weak and forlorn that it even made Alexander who knew of her true nature feel a great twinge of regret.

'Seductress! No wonder Alozmer had so many beauties, but still got wound up around her finger,' He then cursed.

But seeing the Queen Mother was even now reluctant to wholeheartedly support the plan, Alexander felt his reply might have been too rude.

So, as if to soothe a bit of the beautiful woman's wounded heart, decided to make the redhead view it from another perspective.

"Your Highness, I believe you might not be viewing our deal the same way as I am."

"You see giving me the ropal is hardly as bad as you are making it to be."

"Because think about what happens if the ropals stay with you and I mint my own money."

"Then, if what Lady Inayah said comes true, the ropal will not become secondary to Amenheraft's currency, but possibly territory!"

Alexander very casually made quite the ballsy little claim, saying that his one little city could produce more value than the biggest and one of the richest provinces in the country.

The size and population difference between the two would even make the match between David and Goliath seem fair.

And any other time, just hearing this would be enough for the Queen Mother to simply walked away from the conversation then and there, saying, "I do not have the time to listen to lunatics."

But knowing that Alexander had just made a deal worth 800 million with the two, and it was likely just half of his stock, the Queen Mother was forced to take stock.

While Alexander was still speaking,

"So, you see, by giving me the ability to mint the ropals, you will be able to keep some of the exclusive powers that come with it."

"And I will be able to use the coin's prestige to ease my trade and commerce."

"It's a win-win."

The end of Alexander's reasoning bought a while of silence among the trop.

"......" And for a while, the only sound the Queen Mother made was a low metallic humming as one of her beautifully manicured nails, painted a bright red circled the mouth of the bronze cup, while her eyebrows were furrowed in thought.

Alexander wondered if someone placed their ears on her head if they would be able to hear 'the spider' weave its webs.

And it was quite a long while before the imperial woman opened her mouth,

starting with a sigh, "Ahhh…." as she finally came to terms with her situation.

And finally acquiesced to the proposal, "Okay! I will talk to Ptolomy about it. It seems this is indeed something that needs to be done."

This got a bright smile and a "Yea" cheer from Lady Inayah, while even the usually reserved Alexander revealed his pearly whites.

If it was the love of his life making the offer, Ptolomy was far more likely to accede.

But still, the Queen Mother advised them to not get too excited, saying, "Even if I make the request, just as Inayah said, I cannot guarantee anything."

"Many others in court will certainly not like it," adding,

"And I'm even not sure he will agree to it."

"He might be weak, but it's also this weakness that sometimes makes that child do stupid things. Because he thinks that those make him powerful."

"So it's very much possible he will simply deny the request, or make an absurd demand."

The Queen Mother seemed to know Ptolomy quite well and said this in an exasperated tone like a mother would about a spoilt child, which was normal given that she basically raised him.

And finishing her talk by turning to look at Alexander, she very affirmatively said, "If you want to get the minting rights, you have to come to Adhan."

"Even if in name only, he is the king after all."

*Nod*

And Alexander agreed with a solemn affirmative shake.

There was a limit to how much one could get done by carrier pigeons and riders.

And no matter how much authority Ptolomy actually possessed, still, even as a formality Alexander was required to meet him face to face when wanting this monumental.

Never mind the deal was still not officially struck and there was still the slight chance of failure.

Hence Alexander made up his mind to go.

And in fact, it was not the only thing he needed to go for, as Lady Inayah would go on to list.