Herald of Steel

"Okay, enough distractions," Seeing they had gone off-topic, and wasting time Alexander urged the group to refocus and then turned to Kalopi to ask, "So Kalopi, do you know the main reason why I started this business?"

"Yes. According to Lady Tayin, it was because master wanted to earn some money by using some of the high-quality slaves you were gifted by the king." She gave the official answer.

Immediately after she turned to look at Mikaya and the other two as she respectfully said, "And I presume they are these ladies. It is an honor." She slightly bowed.

They might be slaves, but they were still noble slaves.

Though it had to be noted that Kalopi was not fooled by this story spun by Ophenia.

At least not totally.

Because a few moments ago, Alexander had made the small mistake of asking Mikaya if she knew a noble Hamany and she had answered she only knew Matbars (Marquis) and above.

'What kind of slave knows the name of all such bigshots?' The clever Kalopi reasoned.

Though of course no matter how clever she could not actually discern the real reasons behind the brothel or the true identity of Mikaya.

According to her, these ladies were captured former nobles and that Alexander was punishing them by doing this, or more likely, given how chumpy he appeared to be with them, had a strange fetish of watching his women do such activities.

And while very wrong, this rhetoric suited Alexander fine, as it still meant that the woman in charge of the day-to-day of the brothel would keep her mouth shut.

In fact, knowing it was her master's secret, shameful desire, she might hide it even more for fear of exposing it and drawing his full ire.

'Well I guess you get these illnesses when you become a lord,' Kalopi tried to find a reason for this deviant behavior using her own limited knowledge.

"Yes, that's right," Alexander was pleasantly surprised by this innovative answer, sending a look of approval to Ophenia.

And then said, "Let me introduce you to them, The lady on the left, is Hiya," Alexander pointed to Nafia, and then pronounced the stage names for Mikaya and Tajia respectively, saying, "The one on the middle is Kyaya, and the maiden on the right is Zhee. They are all sisters."

Calling Tajia a maiden could be in contention to the biggest lie of the century, and those in the know had to purse their lips tight to swallow the laughter.

Alexander ignored these unprofessional actors and instead continued with his speech, now giving Kalopi some strict instructions, "You will see these ladies two to three times a week in the brothel. They will usually do their own stuff and not generally interact with you."

"But when they do, you are to do as they ask you. If they tell you to jump, you won't ask why or where. You simply jump. Clear?" Alexander pointedly asked in a sharp, serious tone, his eyes narrowing with slits.

"Perfectly master," Kalopi's answer had a little shake to it as she bowed deferentially towards him.

She had never heard Alexander speak with such authority and it made her realize messing with these three would not end well for her.

'Looks like he really has that fetish,' And this reaction made Kalopi even more convinced that Alexander very much loved these women but had a weird preference, a conclusion further reinforced when she thought back on the arrangements around the famous wall.

"Okay, you are excused. I will let Tayin show me the rest of the way," Alexander then abruptly decided to dismiss the building's caretaker, which drew a slightly shocked face from the woman in question.

And though she wanted to stay a bit longer to fish for some favor for her two sons, she cleverly understood Alexander was in a hurry and not in the mood.

"Then please take care master. And I will be available any time you require," Kalopi thus bowed to the pasha, further bowed to Mikaya and co, and then swiftly vacated the room, her long gown sashing across the carpeted floor.

And while on her way to her room, a thought that she would have described as totally absurd just some time ago now crept into her mind, for it did not seem impossibly far-fetched, and that was, 'I wonder if mistress Cambyses will ever serve here one day.'

Alexander would have laughed if he could hear that, but for now, he had better things to do, as he asked Ophenia, "Tayin, give a tour of the premises. And we can talk further as we walk."

"Is that why master sent Kalopi away? Because you did not trust her to know everything?" Ophenia cleverly asked as she got up and put on her coat.

The room had adequate heating so the group had shed those heavy garments after entering.

"Yes." Alexander simply answered as he imitated Ophenia's example, and then asked, "So how much do you trust her?"

'Since she was recommended by mistress I trust her quite a bit. At least enough to her keep eyes, and mouth shut." Ophenia answered, and followed it up with a scary insinuation, "And besides, I heard she has two sons in the military."

'....Well at least Cambyses has a reliable helper' Alexander found Ophenia's willingness to use such methods not distasteful but admirable.

A ruler must be kind to his subjects and ruthless to his enemies, both internal and external ones.

"Is she competent?" Mikaya asked this, for she was worried that Kalopi might have been chosen due to her political reliability and not her abilities.

Mikaya did not want to see any mishap happen here.

"Don't worry, Sister Mikaya. She will not wreck your playground," Ophenia sent a fake, passive-aggressive smile at the woman, returning the favor of when Mikaya had called her sister.

She did not like having her subordinates' abilities doubted, especially by someone as snobby as Mikaya.

And she especially did not like being called sister by her.

"That's good…sister," Mikaya too returned the exact charming cod smile and further emphasized the word.

'Catfight! Catfight! Catfight!' Alexander silently cheered in his mind seeing this brutal verbal exchange.

But it appeared that the ladies chose to remain civil instead, and so Alexander decided not to poke at them.

Instead, he decided to answer Mikaya on Ophenia's behalf and alleviate some of the tension, saying, "Kalopi helped Cambyses with the supplies in my mercenary group. So she has enough skills to keep track of the books. She won't run the business down."

"And if she could keep a thousand brawny men from stealing supplies, she can keep seven harmless women from causing trouble," Alexander reassured her.

This produced a slightly relieved nod from Mikaya, while Ophenia was by this point at the door, and gestured, "Well, master let's go."

And thus Alexander exited the lavishly decorated study, which had been adorned with the usual luxuries nobles of Adhania liked to festoon their personal rooms with, frescos, mosaics, expensive bronze chandeliers, rare and expensive furniture, the whole lot and made his way to the spacious hallways.

And as soon as he stepped into it, "Hahhggg," Alexander could not help but give a shivering moan as the coldness hit his face.

He could hardly believe that such an immense temperature difference could exist between a single door.

Though even his house was like this.

This was because without electric heating, it was generally very hard to efficiently keep large open spaces like castles and manors fully climate controlled.

For to do such a thing, there had to be either some kind of heating mechanism beneath the floor, such as hot steam or smoke, or a nearby fireplace.

The former was very expensive to build and maintain, and the results would diminish when drastically applied over such a large area.

Furthermore, these heavy installments were really only feasible to be placed on the first floor.

And thus heating would not be possible on upper floors like the second floor which Alexander was currently on.

As for the latter, placing a fireplace every few meters around the entire house was just a stupid idea.

There were smoking and fire hazards, cost concerns, and most of all the issue of space.

And hence the nobles would compromise and only heat up a select few rooms that they frequented, like their study, bedroom, and dining room.

While standing in the opulent hallway, Alexander was suddenly reminded that he had forgotten to inquire about a pretty important question.

"Tayin, whose house is this?" Alexander asked Ophenia about the owner of the house she had 'annexed'.

"It was the vacation villa of Matbar (Marquis) Kyaum. I'm told that when he visited Zanzan, he used to stay here." Ophenia replied.

"Matbar (Marquis)?" Alexander raised his right eyebrow in a slight exclamation hearing this as he again looked around the surroundings to see if the building matched its owner's high status.

There were only forty-odd of such peerage in the whole of Adhania, three to four under each pasha, and Alexander was curious to see if his possessions matched his high status.

"Hmmm, the interior seems adequate," Alexander found the hallway expectedly lavishly decorated with expensive marble, embroidery, and pottery.

But then asked, "So why is the outer wall so…drab?"

Given how flashy the interior looked, he would expect its owner to make the outside even more eye-catching.

"I too asked that myself. And we found the house as is," Ophenia too shared Alexander's confusion, causing the duo to look at the expert present with them in askance.