Herald of Steel



Alexander woke up late the next day.

No scratch that, he did not strictly speaking wake up that day.

Because he woke near dusk the following day.

Alexander had peeped open his eyes once in the morning but found the room dark and heard a raging snowstorm going on outside.

Winter had truly come.

So, shivering a bit involuntarily, he pulled his thick blanket closer to himself and snuggled the nubile Camybses even more tightly, feeling her warmth brush off his skin as he again drifted off to sleep, reassured that today was his day off.

And once Alexander and Cambyses joined the others for dinner, knowing that the couple had missed both their breakfast and lunch, Mikaya even cheekily commented, "Looks like the Pasha enjoyed his nuptial night very much, hahaha."

The next day was greeted with another blistering blizzard, and though Alexander very much wanted to laze away just like yesterday, he did not have that luxury.

Because he had some important meetings to attend.

First, he met the businessmen.

"My lord, it is an honor," A stout, portly man leading the group greeted Alexander as he went to say, "I have been to Zanzan a few times, but it has never looked as vibrant as it does now. Truly Your Grace is a just and capable lord."

This type of puffery was standard procedure and Alexander simply gave a light smile and nod, as soon the others went on to give their unique spin on this greeting.

And after this initial round, came the actual meeting.

"My lord, we have been truly blessed to witness all the unique products that Zanzan has to offer, both yesterday and on your wedding day. It was extraordinary, exquisitely extraordinarily!" The fat merchant, whose name Alexander recalled as Harold, was from Sybarsis.

Adhania and Sybarsis did quite a bit of trade together and it seems that his ship docked in Zanzan at an opportune time for him to be introduced by Helliptos.

"Yes, we could hardly believe our eyes. Truly magnificent," This voice belonged to a merchant named Kialat, and he was from the warring states south of Zanzan.

And there were three more present, one from Tibias, and two from different city states in Thesos, recommended by Camius.

Trading with Tibias might seem strange but 'sanctions' and 'not trading with the enemy' were hard to enforce when during modern times, and so in these times, merchants could smuggle goods across borders.

It was even something that the authorities would turn a blind eye to because the goods exchanged might be vital to both sides.

Such as one side might need salt and the other iron.

And this trade would likely occur even when both sides knew that the salt they sold would enable the opposing side to live and fight and that the iron they traded would be used to kill them.

Because such was the necessity.

"My lord, the soap that you have is fantastic. I'm sure the nobles of my country will love it," Harold loudly announced as the meeting began, who was quickly followed up by Kialat who said, "Ohh, yes, but I particularly loved that paper. I'm sure it will become the new papyrus."

The ones from Thesos even tried to draw relation with Alexander saying, "To think we would be able to see a fellow Thesian as a lord of Adhania. The gods have truly smiled on Your Grace and the land of Thesos," while the smartly dressed merchant from Tibias added, "Yes, with Your Lordship as the lord, peace, and prosperity will again resume between Tibias and Zanzan,"

This was said because Tibias and Thesos were considered allies.

As the merchants praised and asked about the products, Alexander also asked them about the places they were from.

Harold was from Sybarsis, which was a great trading power west of Adhania.

"My lord, I trade around the Galosos island. We have everything for sale, ranging from all types of food to every metal to all kinds of slaves. Anything you need I can get," The merchant boastfully promised.

While Kialat was from the warring states, which was south of Zanzan.

It was a patchwork of many small states and warring lords who were vying for supremacy.

"My lord, although we cannot compete with Sybarlis over food, and metal, we can certainly give you the best slaves, hardy ones who can work the fields from dawn to dusk without breaking a sweat." Kialat advertised his land's main export.

Tibias offered Alexander cheaper prices to the closer proximity and many miscellaneous things, while the Thesians offered similar things to Sybarsis.

The meeting with the merchants lasted about two hours, and while they advertised their goods, in the meantime, they also expressed interest in buying all the new things such as soap, paper, sugar, glass, etc.

But the exact sales were not too large, first because these were all new products and some time would be needed for the market to even know such products exist and thus let the demand grow.

Secondly, because the merchants had ended up here by either chance or a routine stopover, and did not have very much cash on them.

And so the five mostly bought various products in small quantities almost as samples, intending to first see how the market received them before buying them in bulk.

In total, sales for the merchants mounted to only around one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) ropals, the bulk of which was made up by the rich merchant from Sybarsis.

Harold bought small quantities of paper, soap, glass and even some lingerie.

But the things he was truly interested in- sugar, salt, much more glassware, and iron ingots were mostly denied to him.

Sugar because Alexander had used up all of the remaining bit in his wedding and would have to wait for the beetroots to mature in about a month to process the white powder and refill his stockpiles.

Salt because Alexander had just started making them and had not built up a stockpile to sell yet.

Same reason for glass- the workshop had not expanded yet, and they had been pushed to their limits to fulfill the wedding deadline, the reward for which was Alexander giving them a week off.

So Alexander had only a few premium pieces to sell.

And iron because Alexander wanted to sell pots and pans made out of it rather than raw iron, for the markups on the latter were much higher.

There was also the reason that Harold wanted to use them to make weapons, and even when Alexander told him that, 'These iron ingots are made using a process that makes them unable to be made into weapons', the merchant seemed to want to take his chances.

Alexander did not like this and stalled the merchants by gifting a few hundred kilograms of the 'civilian steel', and asking him to try making weapons out of them before wanting to buy from him again.

And this was the same thing he did with the others, who were also head over heels to buy the iron.

In fact, they had been initially enticed to Zanzan in the first place with the promise of extremely cheap iron ingots and inexpensive glass.

And it was only later they found that this city had been ravaged by war, famine, and plague had so many gems being produced here.

Thus, though they were a bit disappointed at not being able to buy everything they wanted, they were ultimately very happy with the purchases they made.

And promised to bring a lot of slaves and animals the next time they would visit Zanzan, which ranged from three to nine months depending on the individual merchants and their trading schedule.

And yes, it was slaves and animals that Alexander wanted to barter with.

He said that though he would accept cash, he would offer to buy each good slave at 4,500 ropals, or at 11% more than the market price of 4,000 ropals, and each pack horse at 1,000 ropals which was 100 ropals more.

Meaning it would be more profitable for the merchants to do that exchange.

And the reason for Alexander wanting to do this was obvious.

He needed more men and so the demand for more slaves.

And more pack animals because he needed more animals to work in the industries and the farmlands around.

And he was willing to pay a premium even when bulk buying.

Alexander even wanted to buy large ships to transport his cargo but decided to hold off on that purchase for now as it was not vital for the time being, and he already had a fleet that Amenheraft used to attack Tibias at the harbor that was just sitting there.

Those ships could double as both cargo vessels and warships as soon as Alexander had a navy to speak of.

One point to note would be Alexander not selling any cement, bricks, or weapons.

This was because current production could hardly meet Alexander's own demands for cement and bricks, while Alexander was still arming his army with the new weapons.

It was unlikely he would be able to sell these products in the near term even if he wanted to.

But all in all, this was a fruitful encounter for both groups as the other merchants discovered a yet unknown treasure trove and Alexander finally found his first channel to sell all his beautiful products.

And best of all for the pasha, it was all out of Adhania, meaning no restriction from the nobles.

'Well, then here is to a long and profitable partnership," Alexander toasted before concluding the meeting.

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