Herald of Steel

Every person in the world had things that ticked them off, their reverse scale.

And for Azira and Azura it was their belief, the temple, and its priests.

As people who were once saintesses, naturally, their faith and piety belonged to among the highest tiers of believers and thus anyone who attacked their institution of faith was viewed with utmost hostility.

Thus it was not really too surprising for the pure, innocent girls to order a painful death to the, in their eyes, infidels.

For them, these people deserved no salvation, only the utmost suffering.

"We will burn the leaders." Alexander soothingly informed them and then reassured further, "And we will send the rest to the mines till they die."

"Umm, that's good, that's very good," Azira very approvingly nodded, a dazzling smile forming on her face, which was soon accompanied by her equally beautiful sister.

This pair of cute, pure smiles very much contrasted the dark subject that they were happy over.

Even the ultra-sheltered princess knew of the horror stories of the mines, horrific temperatures, back-breaking work, long, brutal hours, and polluted, dusty air.

A man strong as a bull might the mines and come out in a year as just bags of skin and bones.

"A fitting punishment for these scums," Azura nodded along with her sister, very enthusiastic and approving of Alexander's disciplining.

For the twins, infidels were not humans and as such did not deserve to be treated as such.

'Master, she called you a scum,' Ophenia could barely keep a straight face, knowing that the twins were gleefully thanking the actual mastermind for trying the find the supposed mastermind.

The situation was so funny that Ophenia had to take large mouthfuls of her bread to keep her from laughing out loud.

"Your highness, now that many of the priests are....gone, the people of Zanzan, have no one to lead the temples." Alexander then began the second stage of his scheme.

Saying, "So, like I said the day before said yesterday, I was hoping that you could not just join the temple but lead it!"

After this, Alexander quickly added, "Of course, I'm sure that His Majesty will understand the special circumstances."

Azira and Azura had an innate desire to join the temple and so when Alexander gave them the perfect excuse, of course, they did not argue.

"Ummm, well…if it's for the people…" Azira made it look like she was thinking it over.

"Mmm…since it's for the people,...then it can't be helped I guess," Azura helped complete her sister's little play.
"Yes, it's to help the people after all, haha," Alexander too buttressed the twin's desire for an excuse.

But then added, "Though Your highness, I will need to insist that you now follow King Ptolomy's version of the religion."

"What!"

"How dare you!"

The two little kitties were predictably enraged.

"That's not what you promised them yesterday, Your Lordship," The Queen mother also felt Alexander was trying to swindle them and she stepped in defense of the girls.

Even though she was only the twin's guardian in nominal terms, she felt that she could not just let a mere noble bully the royalty.

That was reserved only for the royal members themselves.

She was also apprehensive about what Alexander had planned for the girls.

Sure, she would love to see Amenheraft's religion be replaced with Ptolomy's version of the faith of Ramuh.

And with the famed saintesses from the grand temple of Adhan themselves endorsing it, the Queen mother was sure that the numbers of this new religion would swell exponentially in the blink of an eye in Zanzan.

But, Alexander stank of raw, unadulterated ambition, a smell she was very familiar with as she too emitted the same pheromones and thus felt that letting this dangerous man succeed in any of his plans, even in plans that on the surface might seem to be beneficial for her was not a good idea.

Seelima had no proof of any existence of Alexander's schemes against the crown, but it was a gut feeling of hers, a woman's instinct.

And that was enough for her, as that same supernatural ability had saved her butt countless times.

But Alexander was not going to let anyone stop him.

"Haha, the Queen mother is misunderstanding me. Yesterday's offer was made taking into account the realities of yesterday. Today's offer is being made taking into account today's realities." Alexander lightly chuckled while narrowing his eyes.

"..." Alexander's display of his current clearly superior position made it so that the Queen mother could only form a flat look.

After all, she had little way to counter him in his own city.

Alexander did not pursue this matter with the Queen mother any longer.

Because it was not up to the Queen mother to decide but ultimately Azira and Azura.

Thus, without giving the former Queen enough time to think of a rebuttal, he turned to his real prey.

"Princesses, I know that you are hesitant to accept the new version of the religion." Alexander began, saying, "But please rest assured that it really is not that different from your current version, with the only difference being that god Ramuh has a wife now who rules jointly with his consort, the goddess Gaia." Alexander downplayed the significance.

"Hmmp, we don't want any of your Thesian gods."

"Yeah, we believe in only god Ramuh and no other god can be mentioned in the same breath as him."

Azira and Azura were staunch supporters of their faith and would not let it be tainted by Alexander's evil ideas.

"Haha, the twin princesses' pure faith makes this lord feel impressed and touched," Alexander gently smiled at the unequivocal rejection.

"What the princesses said is true. Or rather was true." He then gently corrected Azira and Azura with a light smile, explaining, "Ramuh as the leader of the pantheon of gods did once have no challenger that could be mentioned in the same breath as him. But the key point to that argument is the word 'did'. He 'did' have no challenger." Alexander repeated to emphasize the point.

"But that is not the case now," Alexander said while gently shaking his head, causing the twins to twist their faces in anger.

'There he goes with that baseless accusation that Lord Ramuh has lost against that goddess in a divine battle,' The twins' cursed in their hearts, feeling anger flare at the blasphemy words frequently uttered by Alexander.

If Alexander was not so powerful. they certainly would have turned him into pristine barbeque by burning him at the stake as a heretic.

"We have heard your claim before and we will respond the same way we did before- Ridiculous!" Azira spoke for both of them in a high-pitched, firm voice.

"Hahaha," Alexander did not seem to mind the rude rejection, as he reasoned, "Your Highness should not be so quick to dismiss such claims. After all, not one but two temples of Ramuh have been attacked."

Alexander then raised his index finger as he claimed, "The temples are supposed to be the bastions of the gods. Inviolable sacred places that mere mortals dare not sully. Yet, not once, but twice, they have been attacked, their wealth sacked and the inhabitants killed."


Alexander's voice rose a few octaves as he listed, "In just two months, tens of billions of ropals have been stolen and hundreds of priests and priestesses have been slain. Weren't these clergymen supposed to be Ramuh's favored? Weren't they supposed to be under Ramuh's protection? Weren't they supposed to be the most privileged class in Adhania?" Alexander posed the series of questions to the twins.

"You are the one who stole the tens of billions of ropals from us!"

"And you are the one who killed the hundreds of priests in Adhan, scoundrel!"

"To think that you will play the victim! Shameless!"

"That's right. Shameless!"

Azira and Azura naturally flared at Alexander posing as a sheep in wolf's clothing.

Though they had not connected Alexander to today's events, they were not foolish to the point that Alexander could hoodwink them about Adhan too.

Alexander only gave a shy smile at the true accusations and then shamelessly admitted, "Hehe, all of Your Highness's claims are right. I did take from the grand temple of Ramuh in Adhan and many priests did die under my command."

"But," Alexander added after this frank admission, "Your Highness should not be asking why I did such a thing. They should be asking how."

"How could a mortal like me have the guts to rob the gods and not only get punished for it but instead be rewarded for it? I was a mere slave, a being not even worth as much as dust in Your Highnesses' eyes just two months ago."

"And look at me now?" Alexander grandly spread out his arms as he said so, causing the twins to subconsciously look at the opulent surrounding that all belonged to Alexander.

'Could he be telling the truth? Is Lord Ramuh too weak to punish him?' These dark thoughts started to taint the twin's pristine belief.