Herald of Steel

Alexander could not agree to Lady Miranda's ask both because it was a bad idea as well as the fact that deep down he was still interested in negotiating…. now more than ever, given the deteriorating circumstances.

But he also could not outright object to Lady Miranda.

Now was neither the right time nor the right place.

If Alexander were to start advising her now, at best she would call him naive for believing that he could still negotiate.

But much more likely charge at him manically screaming that he was also one of the traitors.

Alexander wanted to avoid both.

So this was a conundrum.

However, thinking quickly on his feet, Alexander fortunately managed to reach a strategy that he thought would likely work.

Thus with a thin smile and an agreeing nod, he first announced his full support for Lady Miranda's wishes,

"Yes, I too was thinking the same, my lady. With Lord Nolan… unfortunately passing away, there is little reason to keep the other elders alive. All of them have shown their true color. We will be only wasting our breath at this point. War is the only path forward for us!"

The bellicose and bloodthirsty claim managed to bring back some warmth to Lady Miranda's frosty face, displaying her happiness, which then quickly turned a lot more radiant upon hearing Alexander following proposal,

"Also, I propose we kill all the servants we have captured. They are all clearly spies working for Miss Linda, and this is their just punishment for aiding in her flight. Not to mention with this, we will be able to clear the mansion of any such ill bugs. What say?"

It had to be noted that in reality, only a few among those servants were truly working for Miss Linda, while others were simply roped in with none of them being any the wiser.

So their only crime was being colleagues with the traitors, being subordinated to them, or even simply responding to Lord Cassius's call for help.

"The Pasha speaks the truth!"

However, that mattered not even like the grain of sand to Lady Miranda, for the answer from the other side came as swift as the wind.

In fact, she was so happy with this planned massacre that the wooden lady even broke off into a small grin, displaying her pearly white, and sparking eyes.

It was a sight that at any other time would have been very beautiful to look at, but now only looked cruel and bloodthirsty, even making Alexander feel slightly repulsed.

The man felt that Lady Miranda was acting like that one lady who was always at the front of a mob, waving her pitchfork and appearing most eager to lynch and burn the witches.

Extremist, he judged her.

And he hoped this was really just a phase and not a permanent transformation.

Because if it was, then they were going to have problems, as dealing with such people was always a pain in the rear.

If you agreed with them, they put you on their shoulders and danced with you.

But if you disagreed, well it was a straight knife to the heart, no hard feelings.

Thus getting what you wanted out of them without enraging them was always a challenge.

One had to be very diplomatic and sly, such as now, where, after having laid all the groundwork, Alexander decided finally spring his trap, happily clapping his hand, and grinning,

"Good, then it's all decided! My lady, why don't you go and prepare me a list of all the names you would like… liquidated. I do not know all of them so I will have to depend on you."

Saying Alexander then even proposed, "You can also add people you might not like. People who could have slighted you in the past. Basically, anyone you do not like. Hand the list to me by tomorrow morning."

This additional idea naturally got a positive reaction from Lady Miranda, "Hehe, liquidated! Is that word Azhak? Heh heh that is a good one," as she chuckled in glee, instantly understanding its meaning and finding its usage very novel.

'Meat, flesh, blood, all turned into a slurry liquid, heh heh!' She hummed in her mind, her eyes sparkling at the thought of being able to shed even more blood than she originally anticipated.

The idea very much pleased her newly born, cruel, sadistic side, as with twinkling eyes and wetted lips Lady Miranda quickly spoke up to promise, "I will not never till morning. I will get you the list by supper, my lord."

Dinner was only a few hours away, but Lady Miranda thought it was plenty of time to write all the names she wanted.

The lady was feeling that energized, her mind working in overdrive.

In fact so energized that she thought she could write the names of all the Margraves' family members if she so desired.

"No, Give it to me tomorrow morning." However towards this hasty promise, Alexander unequivocally re-stated the earliest deadline, reasoning,

"My lady has been through a lot today. So sleep and ruminate on everything that has happened. And once you wake up, I am sure you will be able to vividly recall the names of every person who went against you much more clearly. It will be a much more complete list."

Yes, this was Alexander's 'grand plan.'- To make her go to sleep.

He felt that after suffering shock after shock, betrayal after betrayal, Lady Miranda had finally snapped and it was due to riding on this surge of adrenaline that she was acting so extreme, seeing only red and wanting to make only red.

So the best way Alexander would think to stop her, to un-flip this red switch was to have her go to bed.

Then hopefully, by the time she woke up, she would come back to her senses.

That was the theory at least.

However hearing this, Lady Miranda felt very displeased. She wanted to kill, maim, and wound now.

So what if she were to miss a few names? It wasn't like she could not add them later.

Hence she wanted to argue.

But at the end of the day,understanding the ball was totally in Alexander's court, she decided to only nod and retreat to her room.

While the man watched the lonely figure retreat with a concerned heart.

He really hoped this was not the origin story of the 'Mad Countess', and noted, 'I should send Nanazin and Lady Parthia to console her sometime later.'

For now, though, Alexander decided to bring his mind back to the most pressing concern- the water.

So leaving the mansion, he went to quickly check on his men and see how they were faring.

And even from a distance, the pasha could see the entire camp was gripped by a great sense of urgency and uproar.

With evening already descending, the various bright torches and braziers against the pitch black darkness made all the flurry of activity become much clearer, as literally thousands of men scrambled in all four directions carrying not only various buckets but also many other receptacles while shouting and screaming at the top of their voice, urging everyone to move faster.

Thus as Alexander toured the place, he saw enormous lines forming around the few available wells, the queue possibly numbering in the hundreds if not thousands, as the men at the front worked frantically to pump out as much water as they could before it became polluted with seawater.

Hence the men worked the ropes as fast as they could against the soft, orange glow of the fire torches, their rapid speed sometimes even causing them to suffer rope burns even though the greaves they were wearing.

But that seemed to matter little when their lives were on the line.

This was what one group was doing, filling their buckets with as much water as possible.

While the other much bigger group was seen carrying shovels and frantically digging all around the place like a possessed mole rat, removing the earth anywhere and everywhere their eyes landed, all for the search of that elusive underground stream.

This was to the point that they did not even give one single damn about destroying all the perfectly manicured garden around the mansion, instead working with a zeal and a look in their eyes that would make one think what lay beneath the ground was not water, but the lost city of gold El Dorado.

Thus suddenly the whole place began to smell of unearthed soil, as heaps of such mounds littered the area, mixed in with all the once pretty shrubs and flowers.

"Alexander! I heard the order! Is it true?"

While on his tour of the camp, at some point, Alexander was by chance spotted by Remus, who came running to him with a very concerned face.

And Alexander quickly nodded to affirm, before recounting a very succinct version of what had happened, choosing to mainly focus on Miss Linda's escape and its consequences.

"Hmmmm," And hearing it, Remus subconsciously put his hand on the chin, before looking up to suggest, "If it's just seawater, couldn't we just boil it to get fresh water? We have a lot of firewood here!"

The young general crazily proposed while pointing to the entire Margraves mansion!

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