Herald of Steel

Alexander's mouth almost twitched as he heard Remus go off on his own, who finished his speech by posing, "... I ask for your permission to burn the ships at the Great Harbor… to secure our flank!"

The young general really did not mince his words.

And this sudden request made the room all of a sudden turn abnormally silent for a while.

The great relief most had felt upon hearing the crowd had dispersed on their own without spilling any blood was gone, replaced by a sudden curious intrigue as everyone instead turned to look at Lady Miranda, eager to see her response.

While the lady of the house sensing such a heavy gaze felt she had just been put in a very difficult situation.

She was of course vehemently against this just as Alexander had predicted…. due to all the reasons he had already foreseen.

But she could not also outright reject the request, after looking at the face of who it was asking her.

Remus had just repelled a crazed mob from assaulting their mansion and was asking for permission to basically strengthen its defenses.

Hence while all the people turned to look at her, Lady Miranda instead turned to glance at Alexander, eyeing for help.

But the man was not interested. Deep inside he too wanted those ships gone and even lightly applauded Remus's balls for making such a direct demand.

Alexander himself did not think he could do that, due to all types of noble etiquettes and procedures he would be expected to follow to demand such a heavy request.

But the ever brash Remus could put out his hand and ask to be handed the keys with no problem.

He also understood the boy well and could see that in his general's eyes this 'asking for permission' was more of a formality than an actual petition.

Remus would most likely charge his men to 'sink' the ships tonight whether Alexander liked it or not, thus preemptively stopping the nightmare scenario in the boy's mind from coming true.

And Alexander would certainly empathize with that, which was why he decided to take Remus's side here and elucidated to the group the reason why the general wanted to take such a drastic measure,

"My lady, what we are most afraid of is Lord Parker choosing to use masses of enraged men to assault and pin down our men, and then taking advantage of this distraction to have his soldiers board the ships in Great Harbor. This way he will then be able to sail around and land on the Royal Harbor, thus successfully outflanking us. If that happens…. it will be all over! We will all die!"

Alexander intentionally chose to use a hyperbolic here, just to scare the other party into conceding as much ground as possible.

Because in reality, the risk of either Alexander or Lady Miranda being executed here was very small.

Sure it was common to clean house in a coup d'etat and wash the streets with the defeated in some cultures, but from what Alexander had seen and heard here, this type of culture did not exist in Sybarsis or the Margraves family.

Thus in this mind, the most likely outcome for them losing here was exile for Lady Miranda and maybe a humiliating treaty for Alexander.

Which was certainly bad, but a lot better than dying.

Lady Miranda however did not think so optimistically.

She knew her sister, the kind of scheming 'witch' she was, and indeed feared the worst if she landed in her hands.

Thus she treated Alexander's threat with all its full, due respect.

But even then sanctioning such a move was frankly above her pay grade.

"The ships in the harbor are not mine, my lord. They mostly belong to the various merchants of the city. So I cannot give the order you are asking for even if I wanted to," Lady Miranda frankly revealed her cards and then turned to smile at Alexander, "So let us discuss this matter with my father in law, Lord Nolan first. He is the one currently in charge of looking after the family's affairs while me and Linda… resolve our differences."

The elegant lady chose to be quite diplomatic with her words in describing her situation with her sister in front of Remus, as she then finished with a warm caution,

"I recall we were just talking about trying to get the people on our side. And I believe my lord would certainly agree that burning a bunch of their ships in the middle of the night is surely not the way to go about that."

"......." Alexander would have to concede the point here to Lady Miranda.

Thus giving a small glance at Remus, he produced a light nod to pose, "So what my lady is saying is that if we burn the ships, today's mob will be back tomorrow and they will be even bigger?"

This statement was of course more directed towards Remus than Lady Miranda, as Alexander tried to show his young general the folly of haste.

Alexander could understand by looking at Remus's eyes that it was paramount for him that those ships went on a vacation to the bottom of the sea as he feared the whole linchpin of his defense would come done otherwise.

Not thinking that doing such a thing could invite a greater calamity.

Sometimes tedious politics was more important than 'securing the flanks'.

Remus, the stubborn boy however was still undeterred, trying hard not to frown in front of Alexander, he lightly spat at the lukewarm response,

"So, are we to simply stand and stare at the sun and moon while the enemy prepares? Tomorrow more temples will be attacked and the day after that even more and the day after…. all while the people's anger will continue to increase and increase and increase. What happens when they become so large that they break through? Then we will all….all because we didn't… " The angry man trailed off, having a hard time properly articulating his words without sounding too rude,

"....." While the four people sitting in the room had little way to respond to the general's outburst.

They did not think the 20 year old boy would be so assertive.

Even Alexander was at fault for thinking this, as after learning of the crowd's peaceful dispersal, he thought the matter was done and dusted, and thus wanted to move on to trying to counter the matter through negotiations.

But Remus was here to unequivocally state, he was not going out of here empty handed.

And as Alexander heard the following possibility, he began to see the dangers.

Thus thinking quickly on his feet, Alexander produced a very warm smile and offered the following concessions,

"Of course, we will not leave your men to dry in the wind Remus. Tell you what, since we have been attacked, I give you the permission to start strengthening our defenses. Have the men begin building barricades around the streets. Dig large ditches around the streets we are guarding and then have wooden ramparts behind them."

This allowance greatly pleased Remus, while Lady Miranda's lips visibly twitched.

She seemed to really want to say something about such unplanned renovations in her own stone paved streets, but Alexander had no intention of giving the lady the chance.

As he then proceeded to give Remus further liberties,

"And if you think necessary, even use battering rams to knock down some of the wooden walls of the surrounding houses. This will help you get both the materials for all the construction and you will also be able to send reinforcement through these new passageways as a shortcut to any points in the line, significantly bolstering the strength."

This was not an idea that even Remus had thought of and the man suddenly felt genuine respect for Alexander, very impressed by how quickly the man was able to come up with such an intricate idea, all while sitting inside the comfort of a room.

It once again reassured the prideful Remus that he had not chosen wrong, as he knew he would not have obeyed Alexander so closely if he was not so skilled, even if he was his lord.

The planned fortifications worked to make Remus feel much more safe and secure, as he figured that if they were properly built, manned, and maintained, they could indeed hold out for a long enough while.

Thus having gotten at least half of what he wanted, Remus gave a quick light bow of gratitude,"My lords and ladies, thank you for your grace," and then feeling there was no need to be here, immediately asked to be excused, "Allow to leave now so that I can have the men start on these works immediately. The sun is always descending."

Alexander chuckled in his heart at this curt, almost rude ask, knowing this was classic Remus, fast and decisive as the wind.

The boy did not really mince his words, especially when it came to the military.

Neither did he like hanging out with the nobles in general.

Thus Alexander accepted his general's request with a small nod, and just like how Remus had appeared suddenly before them, he then turned on his heels and was gone, like the wind.