Herald of Steel

Until meeting Remus, Alexander was able to tour the camp freely without any distractions since most of the men had not had the time to even register his arrival.

But it took only a few moments with Remus to make the man have all that peace of mind get destroyed.

What Remus basically was suggesting was that since the enemy planned to flood them with undrinkable seawater, then all they would have to do is use heat to boil the waste salt out, thus leaving them with only pure drinkable water.

And viola, with this single simple move, they would be able to foil the enemy's plan.

Remus got the idea after remembering how Alexander made salt back in Zanzan, using exactly this method.

The only difference was there he used coal as fuel, whereas here the young general proposed to use all the wood and timber in the mansion as kindling.

Remus was personally quite pleased with being able to come up with a 'simple yet ingenious' plan.

And as the boy excitedly pointed this out to Alexander, it was to the point that he forgot to call him by his title but called him by his name.

It was something that Remus did out of habit, usually only when he was under stress or very happy, And at this point, he was very much both.

While Alexander's lips visibly twitched upon hearing the insane idea, completely forgetting the other minor foible.

Instead, he found himself wondering whether to congratulate Remus for his great idea or to slap him over the head for being so foolish.

Tear down and use the entire mansion as kindling?

Even Alexander himself did not think he was that crazy and was of half the mind to start scolding Remus for having rotted his brain away.

So for a while, Alexander could only keep staring at the man, unable to give a yes or no answer.

Until the initial shock of the ask began to ebb away and Alexander began to seriously ponder on the ridiculous ask.

And when he did that, shifting through all the sand to look for the gems, the proposal suddenly did not seem that far fetched.

The physics was there. And it had even been tested by Alexander himself.

So when he thought about it like that, he found that there was nothing holding him back in terms of feasibility, both the theory and the know how were there.

Thus reaching this conclusion, Alexander's eyes suddenly began to twinkle and his heart felt ecstatic.

And he could not help but turn to look at Remus with very appreciation in his gaze.

As they say, the difference between stupidity and ingenuity was a very thin line and Remus had straddled it real fine.

However, Alexander did not start singing his praises just yet, afraid that there might be some devil in the deatil that he overlooked.

Instead, putting on a thoughtful face, he turned to promise Remus, "Okay, let me see what I can do! This sounds very promising."

And this was enough for the young general to hear.

So Remus only revealed a pleased nod and left it at that.

Since Alexander said he was going to look into it, then it was now his headache, Remus had already done his job.

With the 'greeting' covered, Remus's conversation then became somewhat technical, as he turned to describe the state of the camp, how the men were feeling, their food stocks as well as a rough estimation of how much water they might be able to realistically store.

Axx was naturally very interested in all this, especially the last statistic, so he listened attentively to it all.

And according to Remus, it was estimated they would be able to get enough water to last perhaps one month to maybe two months at a stretch if they very strictly rationed it.

This value was calculated based on the fact that when they had come from Zanzan to Caira, they had brought with them 3 weeks' worth of drinking water.

And now, it was these large empty barrels that they were in the midst of being refilling first.

Then add all the other personal water storing receptacles, such as the pails, pots and pans, and buckets each legionary was issued for various uses, Remus got another two weeks as a rough estimate.

This got them to five weeks, and if the men's water were to be rationed to half their usual intake as a way to maximize their survival, well you get 10 weeks, or a bit over 2 months.

Remus chose to underestimate rather than overestimate in his calculations, due to several reasons, such as general caution, taking into account any accidental spills, greater usage of water than anticipated, and even the simple fact that Lord Parker might turn off the water supply before they could fill their reserves to the maximum capacity.

And after showing all this, Remus ended by saying,

"Luckily we are in winter. So it won't be a problem to even half the man's water. They can cope. But if it was summer…. even a month might have been too optimistic."

Alexander could not help but slightly shiver hearing this. and it was not due to the cold, chilly wind swirling around him.

No, as a matter of fact, he actually loved the wind that had just picked up, as he thanked the gods that the season was fully in his favor.

Without the biting cold, there was no way Alexander could not have even contemplated the thought of cutting the men's water supply in half.

You could cut a soldier's food and they would be able to live with it mostly without too much trouble.

Maybe there would be some grumble and they would mostly bear through it least for the first few days, especially if that soldier was garrisoned and did not need to march.

However do the same with water, and you would be a fool not to expect extreme discontent, if not an outright mutiny.

Thus Alexander was very thankful that he would be able to order most of his men to simply wrap themselves up and huddle together in front of the fire, seeking warmth more than water.

If it had been summer, he would have seriously considered surrendering.

And it was also something he did bring up with Remus, whispering in a hushed voice, "Remus! What do you think? About all this? How will we be able to win from this?"

Yes, although Alexander always made sure to put on a very confident facade in front of everyone, but deep inside, he too was afraid about the deteriorating situation.

Alexander would frankly admit to himself he could not see a way out of this kerfuffle at the moment.

And how could he? The whole world seemed to be currently against him.

So he turned to one of his closest confidants to look for advice.

And who knows, perhaps like the idea of desalinating the seawater, here too Remus would be able to offer a surprising insight.

The boy was usually quite bright when it came to military affairs.

"...."

But alas, there was no such convenient luck here.

Towards Alexander's expectant gaze, Remus could only turn around to give him a weird, almost perplexed look.

It was like he was saying, 'I don't know! This is your problem. I am only a commander.'

Alexander's heart lurched a bit at this, but he did not push it, nagging Remus to think of a strategy.

Instead, he chose to drop the entire thing there, not wishing to bring up the taboo matter of surrender anymore.

He did not want to give Remus or any of the surrounding soldiers this idea.

Especially when even now, despite the difficult circumstances they were put in, there was no voice uttering this shameful word.

Not even in hushed murmurs.

And seeing his men's great show of strength greatly bolstered Alexander, so he cleverly avoided setting off this landmine.

Instead, he left his men to continue the good work, with his last parting words to Remus being the strict institution,

"Be careful that you do not ration the water too much. Various diseases and even plagues will break out if the men are too weak and filthy. Winter is a time for disease as you know."

"So make sure to enforce strict hygiene in camp and order every man to take a bath at least every other day. Or if it is too cold and that is not possible, have them at least regularly wipe themselves over with a wet towel. The sea is right there. And you do not need drinking water to clean yourself."

Alexander knew the cold and dry temperatures were the favored climates of some very dangerous pathogens and so tried to minimize the risk as much as possible by the use of copious amounts of water.

Which by itself was not a rarity for Alexander, only the drinkable kind.

"Yes!" And being aware of Alexander's expertise in medicine and diseases, Remus took the assignment very seriously, thus producing a swift salute to see Alexander off.

And as Alexander's men worked their butts off to store as much water as they could, the pasha returned to the mansion to check up on the concerned parties.

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