Herald of Steel

Lord Parker sniggered internally as he heard Achillas's eagerness to be chosen as the representative.

He did not think it would be this easy.

But it seemed the general had grown to detest his rival to a point that he could no longer be objective about matters relating to him.

Thus when Lord Parker made the targeted statement, he took it hook, line, and sinker without a second thought.

"Very good. You will leave first thing tomorrow morning," And so immediately upon hearing it, the ducal lord gave Achillas no time to take it back, and quickly chimed so with a great nod.

This surprised the bulky general but could only produce a slow, woody nod at this sudden announcement, only now beginning to feel that somehow he might have been a bit too brash and played right into the other's hand.

But that was only a fleeting thought. Because he quickly figured that meeting Miss Linda would allow him to better control the narrative, and thus block Lord Bernard's effort better.

So even if his lord had not pushed him for the role, the general might have fought for it himself.

And who knows, in this way, he could maybe even covertly leave one or two hints about some security oversights to Alexander during the meeting, just to make sure the lady could not escape in any way.

Achillas's discovery of all these 'perks' soon had the man 'perk' up and so producing a small grin, he subsequently let out a few words of flattery as he accepted the mission, before suddenly turning coy and making the intimate request, "Then my lord, how about a small reward before I go?"

The offer did not require any further elucidation.

Although they had already done the act a few times already this night, it seemed Achillas wanted to go on the ride one last time.

And Lord Parker, knowing Achillas was still somewhat reticent to do this job, and thus denying this request would negatively affect his standing with him, this time decided to grant it to him, if for nothing but as a morale boost

Thus, lighting his pupils suddenly into a shimmering black pool, Lord Parker imperiously smirked, before strongly slapping the other part's muscular bare flanks and didactically ordering, "Turn around."

To Achillas, this strong, manly touch of his lover felt like how a drought wasteland feels when it is graced by torrential rainfall after a long time, the loud smack feeling most pleasurable and the crisp noise like a heavenly choir.

Thus breaking off into a large grin that flashed all his pearly whites, the man instantly obeyed, and as Lord Parker mounted Achillas, soon, a constant low guttural but very pleasurable moans began to drift out of the luxurious room, which after some time turned loud and euphoric.

This song was mainly sung by Achillas, who loved the various tantalizing sensations delivered from above and found the act much more pleasurable than his counterpart.

(Author note: What do you think about the details here? Too much? Should I skip describing same gender intimacy althoughter? Comment.)"

This was mainly because the man held true affection for Lord Parker and so the psychological intimacy generated from the activity was much, much greater for him.

But unfortunately for him, the vice versa was not true.

For Lord Parker, although there might have been a time when he might have truly considered taking Achillas as his lover and his wife as just an accessory, just like Achillas had, unfortunately for the general, his opponent was the devilishly beautiful Miss Linda.

So what Lord Parker did with him now was done mostly out of habit.

He did it as a way to vent and release stress and even as just a pleasurable way to pass the time.

After all, people of this time were sorely lacking any sort of entertainment and this ranked usually in the top two, just behind drinking.

To the ducal lord, this was just a fun activity he did because he had grown up with it, nothing more, nothing less.

And it could even be argued that one of the reasons why Lord Parker had not stopped doing this altogether even after becoming smitten with his wife was because it was a convenient way to keep his friend cum commander happy, keep him loyal and satisfied.

The lord was of course not oblivious to Achillas's desires, but instead of drawing a clear line and letting him know the truth, Lord Parker decided to let things be as is, fearing such revelations would work to only make things messier.

He did not want Achillas flipping out on him and thus opted to just keep the status, stringing the poor man along.

The consequences, if any, of this move remained to be seen.

For now, though, Achillas could come knocking on Alexander's door bright and early the very next morning, repeating his prepared lines perfectly.

Officially he was there to negotiate as a representative of the Heeat family, sent there by his master to know exactly what were Alexander's demands.

But more specifically, he was there to negotiate the release of their madam and heir, as well as to check up on their well being.

The first section of the negotiation, which lasted from mid day to around the afternoon, or around three hours, was really lukewarm, achieving nothing other than a few pleasantries and peace feelers.

It was filled with banal talks as each side reiterated their positions and although Alexander tried to use his currently superior position to twist Achillas's hand into making him produce some sort of concessions, the man repeatedly avoided any engagement, declining to make any concrete statements just as instructed by Lord Parker.

Not even when Alexander would say things like,

"General Achillas, surely you cannot think what you are asking is reasonable. Look at the circumstances. Despite the 5 to 1 disadvantage in troop number, I currently hold all the advantages. The mansion, all the Margraves family members, and even the Lady of your House are my guests."

"So surely you will have to come down from your high perch and give up some benefits. In exchange, I too am willing to some. Such as re-negotiating the free trade agreement."

Yes, Alexander had even decided to serve up this great meat on the table- the free trade agreement that was largely the only reason why Alexander was even in this god forsoken island.

Alexander might have come here to defend it, but the changing and extremely hostile current circumstances had forced him to reconsider many prior assumptions.

This was one of them.

And besides, he just said the deal could be negotiated.

He never said the exact extent, so Alexander could definitely fine tune it to fit his exact tastes during the talks.

For now, he only wanted to see the other side's reactions.

However Achillas refused to bite even on this juicy steak, one- due to his lord's instruction, and equally importantly because due to his pure military background, he did not even have the concept of what a free trade agreement was, so what was he going to negotiate about?

Thus like a broker tape recorder, he repeated the hackneyed statement he had uttered tens of times before, "I will be sure to relay this message to Lord Parker. He is the only one qualified to make such an important decision. Let me get back to you with it in a few days."

If you had not guessed it already, Lord Parker had made Achillas memorize this particular line and told him to parrot it whenever he was unsure of himself.

While after hearing this for the umpteenth time, Alexander snapped at one point. "If all decisions are to be decided by Lord Heeat, then why he did not come himself? He could have personally met Lady Linda and young Quentin too!"

"Heh… heh," Achillas only gave a hollow, pleased chuckle hearing this, not bothering to point out the obvious security concerns with the idea, but lightly added with a touch of sarcasm, "I am sure my lord would love that."

While Achillas's adjutant, who had also decided to accompany his man, smirked,

"If Pasha Alexander is so frustrated with our arrangement, then you can always come and meet our lord. He is just over there. And our camp gates are always open to you. Please!"

"......" The 'sincere' offer received a wall of silence from Alexander.

It was indeed true that he was feeling somewhat frustrated, and it was not just at the glacial pace of the negotiations.

It was at everything.

Miss Linda was obviously stalling, Lord Janus was yet to arrive as informed by Lady Miranda, and even Cambyses had written to him saying the bad weather was particularly bad in Zanzan, with blistering blizzards that blanked the city for several days on end, thus making starting the voyage currently untenable.

Hence Alexander did not appreciate the fact that Achillas had basically come there to show his face, and seeing things going nowhere, Alexander broke off the talks after sharing lunch with the general.

The pasha retreated to his room to ponder on his next move, while the general was allowed an audience with his wife, his lord's madam as well as his likely future lord.

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