Herald of Steel

Following the planned increased riots, Alexander was invited to a series of meetings by Lord Nolan with the top level administrations of the Margraves family, with the goal of trying to find a true, lasting solution to the ongoing dilemma.

Something that Alexander was of course very pleased by.

Even someone as 'blind' as he could see how the people were becoming more and more riled up, how they were getting more and more out of hand, all from the back of his mansion

So he genuinely feared that if this kept going on, one day the entire population of 100,000 might go mad and throwing caution to the wind would decide to crash into his legionnaires.

Thus any steps to try and prevent that nightmare from coming true would be appreciated.

And as Alexander started to attend these meetings, his initial hopes were further raised when he saw the kind of people attending them, because they were people who had actual power within the family.

They were the bureaucrats, the ones who got all the jobs done- the administrators, the treasurers, the managers, the supervisors, and the clerks and secretaries.

All heavyweights of their fields.

And none of whom Alexander had ever seen in any of the parties or feasts.

It seemed that for some reason, they had decided to sprout out of the ground right now, with each presenting a variety of explanations as to why that was.

Something that the young pasha however did not care for much.

Because in his mind, it appeared as if they had switched their support from Miss Linda to Lady Miranda after seeing the former's reckless treatment of its citizens.

And that was also explicitly claimed by some of the men there, who posed that they were against the youngest sibling's tactics but felt powerless to stop her.

Which was where Alexander came in.

So hearing all this, Alexander felt very much inclined to look past these obvious slights, hoping that this sacrifice would lead to a true breakthrough in the negotiations.

However, after a few such meetings, all that eagerness seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Because it soon became clear that they were not interested in achieving anything meaningful result, but were at best playing for time, and most likely wanted him to back down without giving anything in return.

The most telling of which was that despite the numerous sayings that they were concerned about what was happening in the city, none of the men chose to explicitly condemn Miss Linda.

'It's complicated!' They loved to say.

'We do not clearly know what is going on,' They loved to proudly claim

'We are trying to capture all the miscreants as quickly as possible,' They loved to heavily promised.

But not one of them was willing to point their fingers to Miss Linda, or even entertain that she might be one of the suspects.

At best, they were willing to concede that were some lapses in the way the lady ruled the city, although some of the bigger ass kissers refused to say even this.

And so when Alexander proposed that Miss Linda be removed from her position and that independent councils of elders take control of the city until the matter can be arbitrated, they of course vehemently disagreed.

The proposal they had instead was this, as read out by one of them,

"My lord, we are certainly very concerned about what is happening in the city. But stationing men inside the mansion is not the way to go about it! Lord Parker has promised to talk as long as you recall your soldiers."

To which another immediately expressed his unyielding support, "Yes! And we agree this is the best move. We must not let these trivial matters cause blood to be spilled!"

While a third, much older gentleman, with a great long beard, sagaciously posed, "Mmmm, the Heeat family has a point. One cannot have negotiations while the other is pointing a sword at the throat. Lord Alexander, please listen to us."

Alexander felt like vomiting after hearing this. They offered nothing but wanted everything.

This was of course completely unacceptable to him as those fortifications were probably the only things keeping him alive for now.

Hence he burst, "How am I holding the sword to Lord Parker's throat when I have 3,000 men and they have 30,000?"

"You want me to move my men? Fine! Then Lord Parker also has to do the same. Tell him to take his army out of the city and hand the key to the gates to the city watch. That way both of us will be on even ground." Alexander sarcastically proposed.

This was of course now unacceptable to the other side, as they would be fools to give such an advantage based on only a few empty words.

They could never trust Alexander not to take advantage of the situation.

And they would indeed have been fools to believe that, as Alexander fully intended to take advantage of the power vacuum that would be left after such a departure should it happen, and instantly replace the city watch with his own men and thus ultimately take over the city.

And then, possessing the high walls of the city and an open port, Alexander felt he could turn his fortunes with a single move.

Hence it was too bad that none of that happened.

Instead, it was Lord Nolan who personally intervened at this, appearing shocked as he chimed, "My lord, how can you say that? Those men are vital for keeping order in the city. They are the ones holding the place together Haven't you seen that the people are already rioting? What will happen if we remove them? Surely those rioting miscreants will burn the whole place down…. Surely they will."

The old man repeated the last phrase both to emphasize the significance, as well as a small quark of his speech.

And after a few such meetings of the same thing happening, finally got Alexander incensed, as this was clearly nonsense.

The soldiers were not defending the city against the rioters… they were the rioters.

He knew this, they knew this, he knew they knew this, and they knew he knew they knew this.

So, after a few more futile meetings of trying to get them to come to a more reasonable agreement, such as Lord Parker sending a representative and Lord Cassius voluntarily to be representatives from this side and hash things out, Alexander got too frustrated by his fruitless game of cat and mouse.

And then, although his mind him not to, his mouth allowed him to, thus he shouted,

"Or perhaps the riots will entirely stop if we throw Lord Parker's men out. Surely none of us got where we are today eating glass. We are all smart enough to know what is happening. So why don't you drop the act and simply say what you want?"

This was a bad move by Alexander in hindsight as it should not have been him to tear apart this paper mask.

It should have been them because then they would have been on the back foot.

However now, due to this hasty statement, Alexander was left wide open to a counterattack, as Lord Nolan disdainfully scoffed, "Lord Alexander, we are reputed people. We do not put such baseless rumors into your ears."

"If you have proof of the person… or people behind these attacks, show them to us. And we will surely take action, no matter their identity. However 'please' do not bring up any names without evidence. Or we might accuse you of slander."

The way Lord Nolan used the word 'please' was very telling, full of sarcasm and disdain as if rebuking the other side for making such a childish mistake.

Yes, everyone knew they were bullshitting.

But they were bullshitting within the logical framework.

And if Alexander wanted to beat them, he should have used the tools at his hand, not 'unfounded' claims.

Thus he suffered a backhanded defeat at the other's hand, which incensed the caged lord even more.

Alexander would usually never commit such a telegraphed mistake.

However, it seemed the pressure was finally starting to get to him.

He began to feel it was not only the other side of the city that was teeming with his enemies, but even the mansion he was living in was too, and they were far, far closer.

And it was because of this statement of mind that when Lord Nolan made the following offer, Alexander found it hard to resist.

The old man had made it during one of the covert conversations they had in his room, where the shrewd, old fogey had basically laid out his agenda, succinctly revealing,

"Let's be frank, Lord Alexander. Although I treat Mirnada like my daughter and loved my grandson Marcus dearly, I must put the well being of my family first. We Margraves are not in a good situation. I'm sure I do not need to go into detail on that. So as much as it hurts me, it supports Linda despite the fact that my eldest son is married to her elder sister."

"But, if my lord can help alleviate some of the pressure, we might be open to some negotiation, real negotiations."

He was asking for a bribe!