Herald of Steel

Damious had been smitten with Cambyses the moment he had laid eyes upon the young girl, working tirelessly to clean, disinfect and bandage his wounds.

He felt the warmth of her hands, he smelled her sweet scent and he could feel the tenderness she treated him with.

He had also found the girl's demeanor very different from every other woman he had met.

Unlike most women who turned meek and submissive at first sight of his face and huge frame, he found her to be brave, strong, and independent, even running towards him eagerly to administer treatment.

And this was not even mentioning her body and figure.

Tall and slender, with a beautiful sharp face jeweled with soft, caramel eyes and long ponytailed chestnut hair, she was dressed in full-body tight-fitting leather armor making her look like a heroine right out of a portrait.

The armor hugged and accentuated her beautiful body, especially her curves, and made her thighs and hips stand out.

But the most prominent place that drew every man's eyes towards was her butt.

p Because her rear was truly divine.

Possessing a pear-shaped body, Cambyses had a slender torso with modest breasts but wide hips and a huge, jiggling ass, sculpted by the gods.

And that was also the very first thing that Damious laid eyes upon when he was bought first into the medical tent, her bending over and preparing some medicine.

He found that sweet ass to be mesmerizing and later interactions with her only made his love for her grow.

Damious had fallen in love at first sight with Cambyses and he was determined to get his woman as he felt only someone accomplished as he was worthy enough to possess such a jewel.

So, while Damious was thinking of ways to take Cambyses, yes, take, because Cambyses's own opinion or consent did not matter, Aristotle offered him a far easier way out, a marriage proposal.

It seemed that the girl was effectively an orphan and the old fool wanted to give him his goddaughter and a so-called, 'problematic super slave' in exchange for food and protection.

He on the surface agreed, because, though he had always intended to take Cambyses one way or another, he figured doing it this way would produce the least resistance from the girl.

He had judged, from the brief period of contact with her, that the fiercely independent girl would not likely be keen on the marriage and he felt he could use the welfare and security of her father's mercenary group as a bargaining chip to tame the feisty tigress.

The mercenary leader had no qualms about using such blackmail to get the girl's heart and decided that the help given to this mercenary group would depend entirely upon his mood and his new wife's ability to please him.

'',

As for the slave, normally he could have just killed one without anyone caring one hoot.

But this proved to not be an option under current circumstances as he had somehow magically placed himself as the cornerstone of belief in many of the soldier's hearts.

So he intended to use the excuse of castration to make him die from bleeding or infection and remove his thorn from his side once and for all.

He had no interest in a slave, useful or not, obedient or disobedient, who he found a danger to his rule and his wife was said to be in love with.

And he will be damned if an old senile fool from a puny mercenary group was going to stop him from doing anything.

"Quartermaster, please do not worry. I fully understand and support my master's to carry out the procedure. And don't worry, with my medical skills, I have an absolute guarantee to survive the castration." Alexander calmed the furious Theocles down.

"Haha, that's good, that's good." From the side, Damious joyously cheered.

"Alexander, you….." Theocles finally had the time to calm down and think about what Alexander was doing.

Judging from what he learned about the boy, it felt like Alexander had already decided what to do and was just setting the stage up for his final move.

'But what was that move?' Theocles internally asked.

Damious was too closely guarded and his bodyguards kept an ever-vigilant eye on anyone trying to reach for their weapons and they even tasted all the food and drink before giving it to their leader.

Assassination seemed out of the option.

But if Damious did not die, how could the blessed of Gaia live?

'Am I just going to wait and see the son of Gaia die?' Theocles cursed himself for his powerlessness.

Alexander stopped paying attention to the internal fight he could almost feel coming from Theocles and decided it was time to make his exit.

He had better things to do and it was time to close this little clown show.

He said, "Master Damious, although you will be my master tomorrow morning, until the time the marriage ceremony has taken place, I am afraid I am still the mistress's slave and have to report to her. Thus I am unable to follow your command of not anymore meeting with her. Forgive me."

"...." Damious frowned at the well-thought-out argument and unable to counter it, began to find Alexander even more irritating than before.

Alexander, on the other hand, hearing no rebuttal, proceeded, "I was originally here to find mistress and deliver the news that her father, our dear leader has indeed died in battle."

"Who did you hear it from?" Aristotle sharply asked, almost jumping toward Alexander.

'.',

Without Nestoras and Xanrhine, Aristotle suddenly didn't feel safe in his own camp!

"From an Alcmene mercenary who somehow managed to escape and make it into the camp. He described Nestoras to the tee, saying he fought with him in his ranks and saw him die to a spear." Alexander made up the story as he went.

"What about the others? What about Xanthine? Why didn't you say this earlier?" Aristotle launched these questions in rapid-fire mode.

Although he suspected Nestoras's death, he still felt as if his body was on fire when Alexander seemed to confirm it. It seemed the old man was alone in this ocean of malice.

"That mercenary could not tell anything about the others, most likely because they were too few in numbers to form an independent phalanx unit of their own. They must have been scattered across different units " Alexander bullshitted again.

"What's the name of the mercenary? What does he look like? Where is he?" Aristotle impatiently asked, absolutely unsatisfied with Alexander's answer.

"He said his name was Hannibal Barca." Alexander pranked the old man. "He was Caucasian, had a full beard, and was ye high" Alexander raised his left hand upto his chin, "and I saw him run towards Alcmene's camp." Alexander gave him a random description of a man with words that just popped into his mind.

"Follow me then." Aristotle quickly commanded Alexander to help him find the soldier amongst the sea of humans.

"I have to give the news to mistress. She must be very worried. Do you know where she is?" Alexander had no intention of going on a wild goose chase with this old fool.

"You.." Aristotle spat out in rage,

Damious on the other hand looked at the exchange with bemused amusement.

But listening to Alexander mention Cambyses suddenly made him yearn to see his sweetheart.

So he fondly reminisced, "I heard my wife has returned to her tent, apparently upset at the marriage proposal. *Sigh*, the little girl must be scared that having just lost her brother, and father and now forced to wed a stranger. If I wasn't injured, I certainly would have gone to console and assured her and tell her that things will only get better from now on."

"Thank you, Master, for telling me. I am sure mistress is just overwhelmed by everything that's been happening around her. Once she calms down, she will naturally see that you are the best person for her. But this lowly slave has one small, selfish request that he would like to make if you permit it." Alexander asked with the utmost servility.

"I allow it." Came Damious's almost regal reply.

"Aristotle, the so-called godfather of my mistress has sold her for food and security, I do not blame him, that is the reality we are in now. But I can see Master truly loves her. So it is my minor request to you that you do not make things too hard for her. She has had a difficult childhood and my only wish is to see her happy." Alexander pleaded.

"You don't have to worry. I love my wife with all my heart." Damious gave a passionate but ultimately flat reply.

After all, in his mind, why does anything a slave with less than twenty hours to live say matter?

But Alexander appeared to be very pleased by the reply, as he burst into a huge grin, "Thank you, sir."

Then asked his permission to be allowed to leave, " Now, if you will excuse me."

But just then Aristotle broke out, "Wait, you stay!"