Herald of Steel

Under Alexander and Hemicus's blazing gaze, the two men quickly unloaded their part of the story-

"Yesterday night, the lady suddenly asked us to come to her room. Said it was an emergency. But when we entered… we saw… we saw her… her without any clothes… and then… and then we…"

It was like this that the reticent two recounted their story truthfully and without any omissions, only accompanied by copious amounts of stutterings, as Alexander made sure to poke every little bit of detail out of them, no matter how embarrassing it might have been to say out loud.

And from this what Alexander heard was truly astonishing.

Not the raunchy bits. Those were actually the least interesting parts if you can believe it or not.

It was the generic two men, one woman combination that anyone could imagine. Miss Linda had done with the two men what her husband and Achillas would do with her.

Instead, what truly drew Alexander's attention was how the devilishly charming lady had fooled these two. Not by using any secret or clever technique but by using the most banal claims.

Miss Linda had apparently told these two idiots she had become smitten by their great, strong bodies and her body longed to be with them, that it was love at first sight, and that she wanted to elope with them.

Then she said that she was dissatisfied with her husband and believed only these two could protect her and her son.

And lastly, in exchange for all this, she swore to take both of them as husbands and even promised to make both of them nobles.

It was such an utterly ridiculous statement with so much logical inconsistency that not even a child would have believed it.

How could happen a woman have two husbands? For the time period, this was the ravings of a madman.

But these the two men nevertheless did, feeling so immensely flattered that they did not bother to question anything even a second.

And as he went on to learn more and more the depth of the stupidity these two had shown, Alexander's eyes turned colder and colder, while he continued to say phrases such as,

"Go on. Tell me what happened next?",

"Where did you touch? Name the place!"

"And then what did the lady do? Say it! Clearly!"

"How did that happen? Describe it."

Alexander did not of course do this because he was a pervert and wanted to how the various ways the lady had sucked them off, or how shestraddled them, but to make the two reveal their own inadequacies, as saying it aloud made the two understand more and more of what foolishness they had committed.

It was to the point that the various phrases Alexander had uttered became sources of slight trauma for the two.

And by the time both of them had finished, they wished they could dig into the ground and become one with it.

Which the furious Hemicus also wanted to do, as his hands itched to slice both the two kneeling idiots' heads in one swift motion, something he might as very well be capable of doing, such was his skill.

All he was waiting for was Alexander's order.

But to his slight disappointment, the order to bury them six feet under never came.

Thus the guard's captain settled for a vituperous tirade of curses, "Yo… you! You idiots! You imbecile. Do you know what you did? Do you know who that was? You motherfu….. Here we are fighting for our lives and you fuckers…." as the utterly livid man went to lambast the pair with all types of profanities that should never grace the walls of a room as nice and pristine the one they were in.

And these swears and curses went on for as long as perhaps half an hour, with at some point even the furious Alexander joined, revealing to them the knock on consequences of what they had done and finishing by threatening,

"I should have both of you idiots court-martialed and hung by the nearest tree for what you have done. And then enslave your entire fourteen generations for good measure!"

"No! Al… My lord, mercy! Please have mercy! We swear…."

The menacing words were quick to produce a profuse amount of apologies and promises of sincerity.

And it was the two men's lucky day, as due to several reasons Alexander actually decided to grant it to them, thus turning to coldly look at them and snorting,

"Hmmmp! It is your great fortune that we are very short of men, So I will postpone your judgment until we get back to Zanzan. In the meantime, you are to return your original posts. Do your duty properly, and I will see if your sentence can be reduced or even absolved."

All three men were surprised when Alexander made this decision- it was such a lenient punishment!

The men were being allowed to just return to their post as if nothing had happened.

Even if Alexander did not outright execute them, which he fully had the right to, all three of them, Hemicus and the two men, had at least expected to have been severely caned and have several layers of their skin peeled off.

But there was none of it. Not even a pay cut or even reduced rations.

There was not even a figurative slap on the wrist, and seeing this Hemicus felt horrified, as he thought Alexander was letting them off so easily.

If he did not know any better, he would have even suspected these two were Alexander's darling sons.

Something which the pair certainly felt like after hearing the verdict, as they had their faces light up like the sun in relief.

"Thank you, Ale… my lord, thank you." They instantly cried so in unison, lowering their head in gratitude.

"Are you sure this is wise? After what they had just done?

While unable to control his urges, Hemicus abruptly turned to advise Alexander, "The Margraves will surely demand blood. What is the point of protecting these two idiots anyway? Just hand them over to the family and let them hang. It will save both parties the hassle."

The two men slightly shivered hearing the sudden callus and vindicative voice.

They had never heard Hemicus sound so cold and uncaring. So they thought it would be prudent to once again start begging for their lives.

However fortunately for them, there was no need.

As soon came a warm and gentle reply from Alexander, one which proved to be a great comfort.

Because they heard their boss flash his palms and chime, "No. Given our past friendship and that this was their first time, I am willing to overlook their mistake just this one time. I am a generous man,"

Officousely stating that, Alexander then turned to glance down on the duo, his sight cold and inscrutable, as the man then flatly declared,

"If they display diligence in their work and make no more mistakes, and show that they have sincerely repented, I will consider looking past this fact. But if they still fail to live up to my expectations even after this… well, I can only say I tried my best."

"No! We will work sincerely! There will be no mistakes. We will just guard the doors and not let even a fly through. We promise!"

No sooner had Alexander made the offer, than the two men leaped up to accept it, clutching at it like a drowning man clutches at a straw.

Which was really natural given the alternative.

One that Hemicus made sure to spell out, snorting, "Hmmp! You better. Or it will be the gallows for you two idiots," before suddenly turning his voice acrid and imperious,

"You idiots must have been born under the most lucky star to have a generous lord like him. Be mindful that you do not squander it. Now scram! "

As Hemicus waved his hand like he was shooing away a disgusting bug, "Yes, yes, at once." the harsh dismissal actually sounded like the sweetest tune of relief from heaven for these two.

Thus they scrambled to get up as quickly as possible, before deeply bowing to Alexander as a gesture of thanks.

The man next to Quilus even flattered his pasha,

"We will be sure to thank the luck of a hundred lifetimes that we are graced by a lord as generous as you, my lord. Any other would have skinned us alive. We are grateful."

And seeing this buttering oil being applied, his partner Quilis too decided to join, wishing to placate the furious Alexander by claiming,

"Yes. We will thus remain eternally grateful for sparing us."

Alexander was frankly a bit shocked at the eloquence on display, as he knew these two well and so was aware that neither of the two illiterates should have been capable of speaking so smartly.

And if the atmosphere was not so grave and serious, he might have actually joked about whether they had been taking night lessons to improve their education.

But now he only curtly nodded and hummed an "Mmmm" of acknowledgment, before allowing them to return to their station.

An endeavor both men raced to complete.

While seeing this, Alexander turned to give Hemicus a knowing smile.