Herald of Steel



Standing around one of the sewage work sites, Alexander easily noticed the hustle and bustle of the work, as workers moved with speed and urgency to and fro through the many small doors which were the entrances of the city's bowels.

The ones going carried a variety of materials inside, ranging from building materials such as stone, bricks, cement, and even wood, to food and drinks for the workers inside, to lastly firewood for the braizer that worked to illuminate the place.

All these were usually carried in large wooden buckets they carried on both hands or sometimes more curiously in cast iron metal pans that the workers placed on their heads

Alexander had noticed it before too, but it seemed that due to the abundance of iron, many construction sites were starting to substitute bronze tools for iron.

Anyway, this traffic was not only one way.

Because there were workers coming out of the tunnels too, though their accompanying material was much more simple.

Aside from the sludge and bad smell they brought with them on their body, they mostly carried out dirt- lots and lots of dirt

It seemed Uzak was justified in his growing distaste for the substance.

"The underground digging is still in its ongoing proceedings my lord."

"Because of the nature of the work, the workers we use here are mostly slaves, criminals, or war prisoners."

"That's also why we have a lot more guards here than the previous site."

Uzak said pointing to the twenty to thirty burly men dressed in bright red bronze armor scattered through the site.

They had a shield on their back, used to suppress any attacks from rioters, and a thick club graced their hands, no doubt there to dish out the pain, with lastly a short sword equipped on the hips, likely for situations if things got really ugly.

"Having killed and fought, these men are not the meek sort like the peasants.

"So many don't want honesty and try to slack off whenever possible."

"And many are hot-tempered too. So a few small fisty cups and brawls are not uncommon here. Happens almost every week or two."

"That's why a few of our supervisions have to use these to get the lazy bums moving."

Uzak first explained the makeup of the site, going over the workers, the guards, and lastly the supervisor, who could be seen wielding leathery whips and shouting in foul language,

"You lazy fu*ks, it will tears your ass….."

"Move! Move, you worms! You won't get a rest until you finish…"

All such colorful languages hit Alexander's eardrum, while his eyes were entertained with the sight of the supervisors and small managers occasionally using their whips to encourage greater productivity from their subordinates, leaving sharp, red lashes on their backs in the process.

Though in fairness the practice was not ubiquitous, and the manager did seem content to just use very foul language and loud curses to get the workers moving most of the time.

Though it was also very much possible that they did not want to seem too cruel in front of Alexander.

And so tried to show off how competent they were by these tactics and by making the workers strive extra hard.

Or perhaps this was normal procedure.

After all, getting a slave sick or worse killed would get the officer in charge into trouble.

A whole lot of trouble if it was bad enough, as the incident might even reach as high as Alexander's ears.

This was because almost all the slaves in Zanzan belonged to Alexander, numbering anywhere between 30,000 to 35,000, which would easily put him as the biggest slave owner in Adhania if not the whole world.

Even Amenheraft's father, Alozmer had only around 25,000 to 30,000 slaves, and he was a ruler of a superpower at the peak of his authority, and not the overseer of one puny city and a few surrounding farmlands.

Now, Alexander also knew this and he did have plans to remedy it.

He planned to set most of his captured slaves free soon, especially the original 20,000 prisoners of war, i.e.- the ones he caught against Amenheraft, the native inhabitants of Zanzan.

He had intended to offer them freedom after 5 years or release them right now for a 15-year-long lease payment of 30 ropals a month.

But he could not implement the latter part due to the huge number of skilled accountants that would be needed to keep track of who paid their dues, who did not, and who was late in their deposits.

And then have the administrative infrastructure to trace them down and make them cough up.

This would require an enormous leap in Alexander's administrative capabilities and he simply did not have so many learned men yet to implement this.

So he only promised them release after five years, one and a half of which was already finished.

And it was because of this, in addition to the humanity of it, that he would not tolerate them being mistreated or killed.

And even if one were to remove the human element completely, still they were his property, so why would he tolerate others ruining it?

A slave dying, besides being tragic, also meant losing a few thousand ropals and a strong worker.

So it was because of all that Alexander strictly asked his council members to make appropriate arrangements for the slaves, saying,

"I'm only lending them to you. You must take proper care of them. Do not maltreat them even if they were criminals or war booty. They do not belong to you!"

And because Uzak knew this why he had provided such a long and detailed explanation as to why the supervisors were using whips.

Now, even before Uzak's detailed description, Alexander had already guessed that the workers here were hardened criminals given they had a certain lifeless aura to them,

Furthermore their feet also seemed to be adorned with manacles, iron cuffs with a protruding hole through which usually a chain would go through, connecting both feet.

That chain did not seem to exist, though Alexander guessed it might be because it would hamper their productivity.

But such chains would come once the day was over when these slaves would have their legs connected and their walking and running speed restricted.

Alexander did not disapprove of this, as slaves running away was always a major headache for any slave owner.

And just having a linked chain connecting your leg still gave one a decent amount of freedom to move around.

So it was as humane a condition he could provide these men until someone invented GPS trackers.

And in that same compromising vein, he also did not outright ban the whipping, only disapproved of it.

So turning to Uzak he said,

"It's okay if they are really slacking, but make sure the officers exercise moderation. No slave is not killed or permanently injured."

"The whips should be the last resort, not the first response."

Being a slave himself, Alexander had seen some instances where a stubborn slave really deserved what was coming.

"Yes, yes, I have told so to all my men. To use the whips sparingly! I will be sure to tell them again," Hearing Alexander's positive answer, Uzak flashed a bright smile of relief as he forcefully nodded his head a couple of times in order to show his enthusiasm for the promise.

After this exchange was over, Uzak then finally started to show how much work they had actually done, reporting,

"As you have instructed, the workers are currently working to expand the existing sewer network, digging new tunnels, widening existing ones, and attaching the sewerage system to more parts of the city."

"Once they are completed we will be able to accommodate much greater volumes of waste."

"The thing we are about to start now is attaching the sewer pipes to all the public restrooms, the markets and dye houses, and lastly all the many rainwater drainage ditches located around the city. That fast-flowing rainwater should be enough to wash away all the filth into the sea."

The sewers project seemed to be going far better than the aqueduct projects going by Uzak's confident reporting and was much closer than the aqueduct to being operational.

"Good, good, that is good to hear," Thus Alexander praised, before adding a bit of addendum,

"Remember the sewers are to end about 200 meters into the Mad Sea. I do not want my beaches to smell with refuse."

"Yes, of course, my lord" Uzak was instant in his reply, and then declared, "We will start making the swage pipes as soon as the new kilns are built."

'New kiln! What's he talking about?' And hearing so, Alexander was visibly flued for a second.

He did not quite get the reference instantly.

But a while later it at last dawned on him.

Uzak was referring to how he would use the terracotta pipes here.

And understanding this Alexander had an urge to slap his own forehead.

Uzak seemed to think Alexander had banned all pipes made out of lead.

Whereas he only banned making pipes that would carry useful water, not waste ones.

And so Alexander explained this to Uzak, saying, "You can make these pipes of lead. People will not use this water. And I really do not care if fishes get lead poisoning."

'First, do not use lead. Now use lead. Which one is it?' While Uzak internally rolled his eyes at the confusion but accepted it nevertheless.

And with this, having seen everything there was to see, Alexander finally ended this tour.