Herald of Steel

Due to the sensitive nature of the establishment, Alexander had asked Ophenia to thoroughly vet all girls to make sure no problem would arise later.

This was also one of the reasons why he had asked her not to recruit slaves as these people's roots were difficult to trace once they were sold to the slave merchants.

"Oh, her!" Ophenia recognized the girl Alexander was talking about, as she detailed, "According to her, she was a noble's daughter some time ago."

"But something had happened to her family during the drought, causing them to fall out with Pasha Muazz. And then it seems they were subsequently killed off somehow." Ophenia very succinctly introduced her.

"Something that caused a fallout? Somehow killed? What are the specifics?" Alexander disliked ambiguous answers and thus inquired pointedly.

The last thing that he wanted was for a noble relative to come knocking at his brothel's door looking for his long-lost daughter, granddaughter, niece, or whoever.

Alexander did not need that kind of attention.

"She couldn't say." Ophenai unfortunately shook her head, relaying, "She says she was not told anything about the disagreements. And the reason she escaped the massacre was because she was away for her bliss training."

Alexander believed the first part of the claim.

Women were generally not informed of political matters, which was primarily seen as a male-dominated sector.

And besides, she was likely a child then.

What would she do knowing such things?

As for the second claim, it was Mikaya's interest that was drawn to it, for she asked Ophenia, "Oh? Can sister remember which trainer she tutored under?"

'Sister?' Alexander was a bit surprised hearing this familiar endearment out of Mikaya who usually talked to the girls using .'You' or calling directly calling them by their name as she usually saw all of them beneath her in terms of wealth, status, and even beauty.

But it seems that since Ophenia held, at least partially, the keys to her entertainment, she was willing to suck up to her.

'Ever flexible,' Alexander noted this fact to his remember, while this word also made Alexander remember her physical flexibility, and how she had done the standing splits while he first had her.

"I'm sorry, I can't recall at the moment." Ophenia again ruefully shook her head as the name seemed to have escaped her, and so she quickly offered, "Let me call and ask her."

But Alexander interjected, saying, "No need. You can do that later." and then quickly asked, "The more important question is why is she here instead of being with them? Oh, and who was her family?"

"Her family was Talukder (Vicount)..um..let's see…I believe she said her father's name was Talukder Humany." Ophenia first answered the latter part of the question after a bit of memory recall.

And then answered the former, "And according to her after her family was killed…ohh…I remember she said they were burnt in their house. And then her trainer's house seemed to have been pressured to hand her over. But before they could make their decision, she ran away from them."

"Huh, a lone girl managed to survive outside for so long as a free person? How did that happen?" Alexander, along with the others seemed to find this tall claim unbelievable.

If she was really wanted there had to be men looking for her, and being in a land ravaged by drought, how could she have gotten food and lodging without detection?

It all seemed too improbable.

As all curious gazes pointed at the Sacred Priestess, she quickly answered the group to alleviate their doubts, detailing "According to her, luckily Amenheraft's army was nearby. And so she just started marching behind them and then stayed in the camp by pretending that she was one of the slave chore girls. She did various odd jobs in the days and would sleep around the horses at night." Ophenia recounted, and then continued,

"And this went on for a year until the coup when Amenheraft returned to Zanzan to regroup. And then she somehow escaped while Amenheraft was crazily rounding up the men, causing the security around the camp to momentarily fall," Ophenia finished her speech with this.

While a bit later incredulously added, "Also by some dumb luck, she was not raped in the entire period. Even she seemed to be surprised by that. And I confirmed it."

Mikaya could not help but comment, "Well I guess miracles do happen," at the last sentence, a thought shared by all, as Akisha managing to leave unscathed under the circumstances was miraculous no doubt about it.

Even the usually skeptical Alexander found the tale incredible and though convinced for the time being, he decided he would verify the girl's claim later by himself, while saying to himself,

He did not want to have any loose threads when it came to this brothel.

And he was sure that there had to be mention of one Humany in his study if he did exist.

But he decided to put that thought on hold for the time being, for right now he decided to ask the established noble with him if she knew anything about it.

"Does the name Talukder (Vicount) Humany ring any bell?" He asked Mikaya.

But she answered negatively, "No, I don't much about anyone below Matbars (Marquis). Maybe a few famous Jamidars (Earls), but even those are a handful. Sorry,"

Alexander nodded understandingly at this, for Adhania was a huge country with probably hundreds if not thousands of various noble houses.

Who could remember them all?

The royal family had an entire ministry under it to do just that and it still found it hard to keep track of all of them.

But Mikaya was not totally useless, as she shared her own views on the story, saying, "Personally I think the girl's claim could be true. The last few years have been very chaotic for Adhania. And acts previously not thought possible like killing off entire noble houses were indeed done in this time period. Especially against small houses like Shordars (Barons) and Talukders (Vicounts)."

"Hmmm, that slimeball does seem like that kind of person," Alexander loudly commented about Pasha Muazz hearing this, though this made Ophenia mischievously retort, "But master, you killed a lot more nobles than him."

"Hahahaha," As soon as she said this, a chorus of laughter rang out from Mikaya and her maids, which was soon joined by Ophenia while Kalopi tried her hardest to stifle her laughter, while Alexander could purse his lips.

'This girl…' Alexander could only helplessly shake his head at Ophenia and soothe himself by saying that finally the genuine Ophenia was showing herself.

"Master, do you not want her?" After the light-hearted banter ended, Ophenia seriously asked.

If Alexdner did not want her, he could just say so and did not need to go through so much trouble.

'Hmmm, do I throw her out just because of some hunch?' Alexander ruminated, feeling a bit bad about throwing out the helpless orphan.

If he did do that, without any external help, she would likely be sold as a slave and then possibly end up in the same business with a much worse master.

"No, keep her if she is not a problem," Alexander thus decided, and then quickly added, "But change her name. Tell her Akisha is dead, and from now on she is Jonaki."

"That's great master." Ophenia's cheer seemed unusually enthusiastic, an action she quickly explained herself, "Actually when I was first recruiting her, she seemed reluctant. But the moment I said that she could have the chance to lay with you my lord, her attitude changed instantly. Though I later understood that she probably wishes for you to have revenge on Muazz," Ophenia added off-topic.

But then quickly returned to the reason for such an exaggerated reaction, "Anyway, she is really skilled with her mouth. And I thought it would be a shame for master to miss out on that, hehehe."

Such a simple reason made Alexander involuntarily gape a bit, as he realized that Ophenia really liked spoiling him.

But then he could not help but playfully ask, "Oh? And how do you know about that? Did you try it?"

"Hahaha, no, but the guards around here did," Ophenia readily replied, continuing, "And that's how we teach the girls here. We blindfold some off-duty men and then have the girls try their skills on them."

"I show them using a wooden dildo, while Kalopi instructs them when they are actually doing the stuff." Ophenia finished.

She, being Alexander's woman did not like to be in the same room when these things were taking place, thus leaving the job to Kalopi, who by virtue of her age alone and being a former slave had extensive experience with these matters.

And she too supported Ophenia's claim, saying, "That's right master. Among all the girls, Jonaki is on an another level. She can make most of these punks spurt like a faucet with just a suck. A born whore."

Her vulgar vocabulary gave away her low origin.

But Alexander decided not to continue with this conversion as he commented, "Well, it seems the guards here living the dream. Seven literal whores hungry for their stuff."

The slight displeasure in Alexander's voice was caught on by Ophenia, who quickly said, "Don't worry master. These guards will not grow attached to the girls. Once their training is over, I will change the men with a fresh batch."

This alleviated the security concerns of Alexander, who nodded and said, "That's good."

And then finally decided to move on to the building inspection, or more specifically the wall inspection.