Herald of Steel

The scale of Alexander's demands for Camius was not lost on the man.

Camius, though might one him to be rowdy and boisterous externally, was always a calm man on the inside, and when he thought back on the challenges he would have to overcome to get that promotion and become a talukdar (viscount), his zeal for work substantially withered.

This was only his first real task as the chief of the NIA (National Intelligence Agency) and it was already such a tall order.

So, who knew what tall mountains he would be called to climb in the future for Alexander?

But then Camius remembered who his boss was.

This was classic Alexander, always handing out rich rewards, but also demanding the utmost excellence in return.

"Remember to choose a suitable street to set your shop at, and employ a trustworthy merchant." Alexander gave some last-minute advice and feeling he had basically said all he needed to say, he decided to excuse the man for the time being.

"Well, then, I will not keep you here any longer," Alexander said, adding, "And I will join you for the interrogations a few hours later."

"Okay. I will let Cambyses know the street I chose for my shop, so I get my patrol in that street," Camius made a suggestion by himself which Alexander nodding approved.

"Well then take care, my lord," Camius afterward performed a noble's bow, and promptly showed himself out.

As the memory of Camius leaving the room still lingered in the minds of the remaining people, Alexander suddenly asked his two women, "So, what do you think of the conversation just now?"

"..." Both of them were confused by the question.

What did they think?

They thought it was all pretty normal.

Seeing their confusion, Alexander decided to elucidate, "What I mean is that with the powers I gave Camius just now, he will have total control of what my eyes see and what my ears hear. What do you think about that?" He asked with a light smile.

"Alex, if you are thinking that Camius will betray you, you should throw that filthy thought right out." Cambyses almost shouted this out with a very exasperated tone, finding even the mere mention of the possibility distasteful.

"Of course, I'm sure Camius is willing to die for me a thousand times," Alexander in a breezy tone soothed Cambyses.

But then ominously added, "...For now."

"Is master worried about the future?" Ophenia asked with a light frown.

"Yes," Alexander nodded, asking "Who can say if he will feel the same a decade from now or two decades from now?"

"Tha…" Cambyses seemed to want to say something but was interceded by Alexander.
"Time has a nasty side effect of warping people to unimaginable shapes." He said, adding, "When Camius will remain in power for decades, having the eager ear of the most powerful man in the kingdom, and all such sensitive information at his fingertips, who can say the embers of ambition will not smolder?"

And he then very heroically said, "And I must stop that from ever happening."

Alexander had handed the NIA all the power to spy on the civilians, military, and nobilities mostly because he was shorthanded.

But after rethinking for a day, Alexander felt that handing Camius so much unilateral power was not right.

He had given the man the means, the right, and the opportunity to grow his spy empire as he wished, and though he had given it only because he very much trusted Camius and was very confident that the man would not back-stab him, who would see the future?

"Alex, just as you said, the possibility of it happening is decades in the future. So, why are you talking about it now? Why are you talking about taking actions against something you literally just created." Cambyses had begun to find Alexander's over-cautiousness, bordering on paranoia irritating.

Alexander certainly did not miss the annoyance in Cambyses's voice.

But he who learned from history knew better.

Particularly there was the example of the Ottoman Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, who was the first Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire appointed by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

He was born a Christian who was enslaved during his youth and not much unlike Alexander and Camius's story, he and Suleiman became close friends in their youths.

Thus after Suleiman's ascension to power, he was appointed by the king as the Grand Vizier and remained in office for the next 13 years.

Ibrahim particularly showed off his skills on the diplomatic front, his work with the Western Christendom being a complete success, evidenced by such as convincing Charles V to turn Hungary into an Ottoman vassal state and making a deal with Francis I that gave France favorable trade rights within the Ottoman Empire in exchange for joint action against the Habsburgs.

Ibrahim did this by using a variety of tactics to negotiate favorable deals with the leaders of the Catholic powers, the most effective tactic being by portraying himself as "the real power behind the Ottoman Empire".

And as his power and wealth grew, attaining a level of authority and influence rivaled by only a handful of other grand viziers of the Empire, so did his arrogance.


And he behaved as if he were in charge, not the Sultan.

This was most evident by the fact that the Venetian diplomats even referred to him as "Ibrahim the Magnificent", a play on Suleiman's usual sobriquet.

And when this reached Sulieman's ears, this deeply troubled the Sultan.

And after trying a few times to curb the man's arrogance to no avail, one day, after finishing dinner with the Sultan, when Ibrahim Pasha was about to go to bed, he was suddenly seized in his bedroom on Suleiman's orders and promptly executed, with all his property (much of which was gifted to him by the Sultan) confiscated by the state.

Thus ended the life of this ambitious man and a friendship that should have lasted for a lifetime.

It took Ibrahim only thirteen years to turn from a loyal friend to threatening his lord's position.

So how could Alexander be sure that Camius would not turn the same?

​ If thirteen was not enough, what about twenty-six, or even thirty-nine?

Camius after plenty of time on his hand after all.

He was just twenty-one, and justifiably, Alexander dreaded to think the kind of power his spymaster would be able to attain at the age of sixty.

With so much at one's fingertips, it would take only a tiny spark, an insignificant egging from any malicious forces, or even a causal suggestion to doom Camius and Alexander along an irrevocable path.

And Alexander wanted to stop that before such a possibility could even take birth.

But Alexander did not give such detailed explanations to the girls.

Instead, he only said, "True I made Camius the head right now. But I also want cover for 'what if' scenarios."

"You can say what ifs all day long. What if this happened? What if that happened?" Cambyses was very vocal about her displeasure, saying at last, "What if the sky fell tomorrow?"

She certainly did not like this ever-suspicious part of Alexander's nature.

Alexander only gave a helpless smile as he believed being the man of the house he certainly had to take the worst-case scenario into account.

He did not have the luxury of being as wishy-washy as his wife.

But he chose not to pour more fuel into this topic by debating with Cambyses.

Instead, he switched topics, "Cam, in addition to leading the police, I want you to form a spy branch attached to it. It will be called the detective branch and it will investigate crimes and potential criminals."

Alexander's use of the word potential criminals left a wide degree of interpretation as all innocent men could be potential criminals

Yes, this was Alexander basically asking Cambyses to form a secret police with the authority to arrest anyone, something that he had also told Camius to do.

And thus, by creating duplicating agencies, Alexander hoped that he would not be only reliant on Camius for his intelligence.

"Potential criminals? You mean spies?" You want me to do the same job as Camius?" Cambyses was certainly no fool.

"Yes, but not exactly." Alexander lightly smiled, explaining, "Camius will mainly spy on foreign lands, while you will only focus on our people."

This made sense to Cambyses and she nodded in agreement.

But what Alexander did not tell her was how blurred such definitions could be.

A simple example would be a traitor leaking information to a third party.

If that person was a citizen of Alexander, then as a citizen living under Alexander's rule, he would fall under Cambyses's jurisdiction.

But it could also be argued that as the information was being leaked to a foreign power, naturally it should go to Camius.

Thus a rivalry will develop between the NIA and the detective branch, where these people will compete with each other over resources such as money, political clout, glory, and peerage.

And when there's such an enemy, naturally all the energy will go towards fighting the other, with no time to plan any rebellions.