Herald of Steel

Lapitus had proposed to Alexander that he could get him the city with few casualties if he was just given the time.

But Alexander knew that would not be possible.

For even Alexander, who was mostly at the back in the relative safety of the camp had to sometimes fight the urge to find a woman just to take the edge off.

He even thought about asking some of his girls to come from Zanzan just to relieve him.

So if even he was like that, what about the normal grunts fighting in the front lines?

Hence, no matter what he said, it was almost predestined that Thesalie would be sacked.

So the only thing there was to discuss was whether the populace would live or return to the soil after that.

Thus in response to Lapitus's request for a three-week extension, Alexander slouched his back, and waving his hand declared,

"Three weeks is too much. I will give you fifteen days. So today is the 5th, you have till the 20th. If you can't open the city gates before that, then don't bother." 

Hearing this Lapitus of course wanted to interject and haggle. but Alexander gave him no such chance, simply flashing his palms and saying, 

"Don't bother asking for more. Because by then I will have already put in a lot of the work into my siege works and be ready to take the city regardless."

"So do it by then or don't bother."

Alexander once again repeated, his tone final.

And Lapitus could tell there was no more negotiating to be had of this.

Fifteen days, that's all he had,

Whatever he planned to do, had to happen within this time.

"I understand," Thus the man finally gave a low nod after a seemingly internal bit of struggle.

"Good. I also want all the men you capture executed before I come. I have no patience to deal with them."

And then Alexander quickly dumped another task on the man, figuring since he was going this far, why not make him go the whole distance?

It would not only take care of the mess, but it would also make Alexander look better since he would not be the one to kill all those nobles.

*Shudder*

However the request made Lapitus involuntary shake.

He did not think he had it in him to do that.

He was a loyal soldier, at least he liked to think himself so.

But he did not reject him.

Instead, as he thought and thought of it, his eyes began to get sharper and sharper.

Until he muttered to himself, 'Since I have decided to go this far, what's one more step? I have drunk the poison, might as drink the whole cup."

*Nod* 

Alexander was pleased to see the direction the head moved.

Whereas Lapitus felt his throat too dry to actually say the precise words. 

But Alexander was not bothered by this, as then suddenly, he seemed to deviate and ask something very unrelated. "Does Ponticus have any unmarried daughter in the city?" 

There was only a brief flash of surprise in Lapitus hearing so, as thinking about it for just a second, it was very apparent why he was asking so.

Not only would taking the children of the city lord and obtaining their approval add legitimacy to Alexander's rule over the people of Thesalie, who were generally hostile to Adhanians, but it also had to be remembered that Lord Ponticus was part of the Tibian royalty.

Meaning the old man's children had the titles of prince and princess.

Clearly, Alexander planned to ask Lapitus to spare these daughters from death so that he could marry them.

That was if they existed, for Lapitus seemed unable to grant Alexander that wish, answering with a shake of his head, 

"No, I'm afraid not. The lord has five children. All three of his daughters are married. They all live with their husbands in their own fiefs far away."

"His younger son died a few years back from an illness, leaving two sons, They and their mother live in the city."

"As for his eldest son, the current ruler of the city- Lord Petrino, he is childless."

Lapitus gave a very brief summary of all of Lord Ponticus's progeny.

 "..."

Hearing this Alexander pursed his lips a bit.

He did somewhat expect this kind of result given Lord Ponticus was no spring chicken, having quite a few years behind his belt.

So it was understandable that all his children would be married.

But Alexander still wanted to fish, perhaps if not for a daughter, then maybe for even a granddaughter.

But it seemed that there were only grandsons on hands.

Alexander was not interested in them.

As a matter of fact, he instead wanted to very much kill them given they had a legitimate claim to the city.

Whereas if it was the girl he could have married them and gained legitimacy for himself.

Alexander might have even considered having that widow to try and gain that legitimacy if she was childless or if only she had daughters.

But given that Alexander was determined to kill her sons, marrying her and not expecting to be poisoned would be pretty hard. 

Then, after thinking for a bit, Alexander felt he missed something.

He missed Petrino's wife.

So he asked, 

"Is Petrino not married? How does he want no children being the eldest sibling?" 

That was certainly unnatural. 

"Ummm, no. He is married. It's just that the madam has a weak body and…." Lapitus trailed off without much elaboration.

But Alexander got what he was saying.

It was readily apparent the lady was physically too weak to be considered one of the candidates for marriage.

Even if Alexander overlooked the slight detail of him killing her husband. 

'Looks like I will have to quell the people the hard way,' 

So given that an easy way of placating the public was out of the way, it seemed Alexander only had the option of using brute force to suppress any dissent.

Or that was until Lapitus stepped in sensing Alexander's thoughts and offered, 

"Lord Alexander, if you want to easily rule Thesalie, then I have a suggestion. What about marrying my daughter?"

"My wife is one of my lord's illegitimate daughters. And she is even famous all across the city for her beauty."

"So if the people were to know you were taking her daughter…. everything would be much smoother!"

Lapitus revealed with a smile, the mention of his wife's beauty being clearly a way for him to show Alexander that his daughter was no slouch in the looks department.

"...???"

While for Alexander, Lapitus being related to Lord Ponticus, and by extension the royal family was a piece of much more notable news.

He did not think the former city lord treated his right-hand man so well that he would make him family.

 So given the background of the girl he was being proposed to marry, for a brief few seconds, Alexander was ready to accept the deal then and there.

But then he cooled down.

Lapitus said his wife was 'one' of Lord Ponticus's illegitimate children.

Meaning there were more.

So who was to say there was not a daughter there somewhere?

Marrying her would be much more impactful than an unknown, illegitimate granddaughter.

Now Alexander did not know whether such a person even existed.

Neither did he pose Lapitus any query regarding this, knowing the man had every reason to lie.

Instead, Alexander made up his mind to search for the girl himself.

And speaking of marriages, Alexander felt taking a wife was too high a price to pay.

Remember, he was just taking one city, not the whole country.

So why would he want to take anyone as a wife for something this small?

If he did so every time, by the time he was done with Tibias, he would have added more than ten wives.

Because there were at least ten cities in Tibias comparable in size to Thesalie, i.e.- with a population of around fifty to hundred thousand.

That might not have been a problem for someone like Genghis Khan whose exploits in the reproductive area were almost as legendary as his prowess as a conqueror.

But Alexander was certainly not so lavish.

So he replied, "Me taking your daughter is certainly possible. But not as my wife. I can at best take her as one of my concubines. Perhaps even one of my favored concubines."

Alexander promised the last sentence with some sincerity.

"Ah!" 

But this predictably got a wounded gasp from the other side.

No father wanted to hear their daughter was lacking, especially when it came to marriage.

But Lapitus did not argue. 

He knew his own and thus by extension his daughter's status was too low to be able to realistically become a pasha's legitimate partner.

Not when he was bringing so little to the table.

So with an understanding nod, he agreed, 

"Thank you, my lord. Then if I'm able to take the city within the next two weeks, I hope Lord Alexander will take my daughter as a concubine." 

And Alexader readily nodded, 

"Sure! If you can open the gates to the gates and the nobles there are all dead, I swear it by the gods." 

And thus with this, the pact was sealed.

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