Herald of Steel



"That…that is unfortunate my lord," Hearing Alexander's claim of Theony's demise, Mithriditus could not stop himself from slowly shaking his head.

He liked the young man.

So in Mithriditus's mind, it was indeed regretful that he had died to a nameless soldiers in the heat of the battle.

Especially when it was likely because of the armor he wore.

'*Sigh*' So Mithriditus released a breath of remorse internally, thinking how disappointed the crown prince would be knowing this, while he also lampooned at the thought of being punished by Perseus once he got to know about it.

And he had no doubt the word of his act would indeed reach the king.

After all, he had come here wearing his very flashy armor, which he wore to show off his status and prevent anyone from killing or harming him.

If he had worn an ordinary, inconspicuous one, he was afraid the guards might not have even opened the city gates.

Which also meant the Tibian guards defending the camp had also seen Mithriditus leaving the site.

Furthermore, he was probably the only one other than Philips to have the authority to get Laykash out of the camp without requiring Perseus's express permission.

So those very guards who recognized Mithriditus leaving the camp would have also noticed a Zanzan prisoner accompanying him.

Perseus would have to intentionally get hit in his head by a donkey repeatedly to not understand what had happened.

But Mithriditus had already cast the die.

The crown prince had temped him with both sticks and carrots, and Mithriditus had chosen to gamble on it.

And he lost.

So the only path that remained for him was to try and take Laykash back with him and hope Perseus did not lick his and the crown price's skin too bad.

As for how he intended to get Laykash from Alexander's clutches, well, he could only hope Philips's plan would work.

Or both of them would be lucky if they could escape by giving up only a few layers of skin.

So to try and prevent that unpleasant ending, Mithriditus turned to gaze pointedly at Alexander and said,

"That is indeed regrettable my lord."

"Theony was valued noble of our country."

"But if he is really dead as you said, then I'm afraid it is not possible to exchange the prisoner." "Please let me return with the prisoner and come back with a new offer."

'Give you back Laykash?' Alexander found even the mere suggestion of this incredulous.

Surely the old man could not be so stupid, right?

Alexander had alway held a soft spot for that man because it was indirectly because of him that he could sit here, for if the man had not killed Kafka, Adhan would not have fallen and the subsequent chain of events would not have occured, meaning Alexander might still be the leader of a small mercenary.

And so, even though he never explicitly stated it, he was always grateful to Laykash, and tried to look out for the man in subtle ways.

So he simply replied, "You can go. But Laykash stays with us. Thank you for bringing him to us. We acknowledge your sincerity and appreciate this friendly gesture."

Alexander of course did not forget to throw the same words Mithriditus had said back to him, and then made it clear he would never let Laykash return to the lion's mouth after he got him back.

Who in their right mind would?

"....." And hearing so Mithriditus appeared to be stunned into silence, as if he had never expected such a thing

"Is my lord not even willing to let some of our captives go in exchange?" He seemed to pronounce then in a shaken, seemingly wounded voice.

To which Alexander produced a victorious sneer of derision,

"You people stole tens of millions of ropals from me. And now you are asking me to play fair! Hah! Fat chance! Laykash stays, and if you do not leave soon, you will too," He then ended with a threat.

"That's right! I'm sure the people would love to see the man who killed thousands of our people be hanged!"

And accompanying Alexander, Melodias too chimed out, expressing their solidarity.

The council members just had their lord's house burnt down so very much wanted revenge.

And this was their way of extracting some, even if it was only a tiny bit.

But that sense of impending victory lasted only for a fleeting moment, as Mithriditus shed his wounded face like a chameleon changes color, and treating all the threats like thin air, remarked with a sly smirk,

"Then perhaps it would be prudent for Lord Alexander to ask if the prisoner shares the same thoughts as you. If he really wants to stay here?"

"Who knows? Maybe he has grown fond of Tibias and wishes to come with me, hehe?"

Mithriditus gave that hollow chuckle again.

"....." And it was time for Alexander to be mute with surprise.

From the other party's tone, this did not seem like a question and sounded more like an inevitability.

'What did they do to Laykash?' Alexander hence wondered but was unable to think of any.

He had met with Laykash personally before he started the meeting, hugging the man with familiarity upon first meeting him, and then proceeded to make some talks for a while posing such questions as,

"How are you?"

"How are your injuries?"

"Is anything broken?"

"Did they treat you well?"

"How was the food?"

"Were you cold?"

And Laykash answered everything favorably, giving a hollow chuckle and saying, "Hehe, I'm alright, my lord."

"Got food and did not freeze, so can't complain."

It was clear from Laykash's body language and his weak, haggard look that the experience certainly had not been pleasant.

But the man was still alive and that was what mattered to him.

The food there had been minimal, just enough to stave starvation but not hunger, and the cold though not unbearable but certainly uncomfortable.

Of course this was to be kind of expected given Laykash was a prisoner of war and not a guest.

But because he felt embarrassed about describing his abject living conditions as well as the shame of getting captured, Laykash seemed hesitant to elucidate further.

Sensing which Alexander also did not dig too much into his answer too much, instead he was only much relieved to see Laykash not missing anything or had anything broken.

Prisoner camps were usually brutal, especially during the winter, and additionally Tibias did not need to even intentionally make things hard for Laykash.

It had to be remembered that Laykash was captured and it was very much possible he might have suffered injuries.

And if he had and if Tibias had simply left Laykash as is, without any medical attention, his condition could have deteriorated enough to ultimately result in a fatality.

And Alexander was relieved to see that did not happen.

So with a few understanding nods he let Laykash continue with his recount,

"They also did not rough us too much. Only asked us a few things about the city, like, where you were, who were our generals, who was in charge of the city, the amount of food we had, my position in the army…things like."

"I didn't say anything too revealing, my lord. Only the general stuff." Laykash was quick to add in a bit of panic thinking Alexander will blame him.

While the lord was quick to reassure him, "It's okay. It's okay, I do not blame you. You did what you had to live. You did well."

"Mmmm" And this reassurance worked wonders to calm his troubled heart, as he added,

"They also asked us things like the crossbow and the mail armor. They seemed very interested in those."

"But I did not reveal anything, saying I was only a soldier and not a blacksmith."

"But I did reveal it was you who invented them."

As Laykash said this his voice turned up a few octaves, and his sunken eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets in fear, hastily saying,

"I had no choice my lord! They made me!"

"It's okay, it's okay. I do not mind." And Alexander was again quick to reassure.

It did not take a genius to predict that once Tibias got their hands on the new weapon and armor, they would interrogate the prisoners to know more about them, and them saying it was Alexander really did not matter much.

What were they going to do knowing it?

Go to war?

They already had.

Send assassins?

As a high-ranking noble in Ptolomy's faction, the list of people who wanted to do that could fill a small book.

So if Tibias really wanted to do that, Alexander would advise them to get in line.

It was like this Alexander had spent some time getting to know about Laykash's well-being and experiences of the past months, by the end of which he was fairly certain the soldier was healthy and okay, able to walk and talk freely, the only caveat being he was a little bit weak.

But that was nothing enough rest and meals could not fix.

And as Alexander thought this, he was ultimately forced to come back to the reason why Mithriditus was so confident in saying that Laykash would return with him.

He could see no way of that happening.

"What did you do to him!" And while Alexander was musing on Mithriditus's implicit threat, Grahtos was unable to hold back his emotions, and loudly exclaimed what they were all thinking.

"Hehe, let the prisoner explain," While Mithriditus ominously chuckled.