Herald of Steel



During Alexander's visit to the administrative building, he also got to meet with some of the ship designers, who then eagerly showed him the various blueprints of the different kinds of ships they were building, all laid out over a grand, oak table. 

Following which they very excitedly went over how Alexander's idea had enabled them to build much bigger ships, emphasizing the size of the vessels and going over how revolutionary those were going to be, as they attempted to impress their top boss.

Alexander meanwhile nodded absentmindedly and played along, though his heart in reality wanted to build even bigger ones.

For instance, what the men were showing him were sketches of triremes and quadriremes, whereas other counterpart nations were already using decariremes.

Now, Alexander had asked if they would make him the latest models other nations were using, but unfortunately, it seemed that was beyond the engineers' capabilities at the moment.

And in that same vein, Alexander's wish to make huge barges made of concrete powered by enormous sails and complex rigging for transporting cargo all around was also shelved due to a lack of expertise.

'Baby steps. these are baby steps,' And to all of that Alexander could only reassure himself as such and hope the future held better things for his navy.

And as Alexander finished seeing everything there was to see, he at last bid the officers farewell, 

"Well I've been very impressed by the job you have done, esteemed sirs." He respectfully first addressed these learned and well-to-do men, 

"Keep up the good work."

"Remember the ships that you build today will connect our people, facilitate trade, make us richer, and enable us to project power across the seas."

"For His Majesty's glory!"

"For His Majesty's glory!" And the others cheered in chorus.

After exiting the shipyard, Alexander did not immediately return home.

No, because there was a guest in Alexander's carriage, Lord Nuraman, and he insisted that he come to his house for a meal, saying everything had been prepared and that the meal was hot and ready.

Alexander too was feeling famished, having traveled and walked for so many hours without anything much of substance to eat.

Sure he was served drinks and snacks, but his real meal had been at dawn, and after all the walking, talking, and moving around, his tummy was ravenous for some lunch.

So when there came a promise of delicious food, Alexander was reluctant to pass it up.

Thus instead of taking him to his house, the carriage was diverted to Lord Nuraman's house a few blocks away, near where NN and the twin's house were.

This was another of the vacant noble homes turned into guest houses with a similar style and  Alexander was let in with cordial grace by two women, a slightly old woman with few strands of gray hair appearing out of her cascading mane, and the one that attracted most of Alexander's attention, a stunningly beautiful young woman standing next to her.

Wearing a beautiful, strapless red gown, this lady appeared to be in her early to mid-twenties and fully eclipsed her counterpart in all forms.

Her dress accentuated her ample bosom, snuggly wrapping it, her silky black hair was tied up in a stylish bun and her cheeky were rosy with cute dimples.

"Welcome, Lord Alexander, " And she greeted him with a curve on her plump, wine lips, her captivating dark eyes making an amorous gesture that set Alexander slightly aback.

He was surprised both by her beauty and the overly familiar greeting.

But Lord Nuraman seemed to not notice any of this, as he simply went forward and in a jovial tone said, 

"Let me introduce you, Alexander,  this is my third wife- Rayana," pointing to the olden woman, and then referred to the sexy bombshell as, "And this is my newest concubine- Akisha. I just took her two months ago." 

Hearing which Alexander consequently felt a light shell hit his heart in surprise.

'Old man aren't you a bit too advanced in your age to be adding new members to your harem,' He could not help but say to himself.

But hey, the man was bona-fide noble so who was he to argue?

Thus Alexander greeted them elegantly, praising their looks, and was then soon invited inside.

There he was met with a second pair of couple.

And it was someone he already met a few times, for it was Kayvan- Pasha Farzah's fifth son.

"It's a pleasure to have you, Lord Alexander," The tall, strapping man warmly greeted. 

He was accompanied by his recently married wife, who appeared especially young, perhaps only fifteen or sixteen at most, possessing a petite figure with some innocent baby fat still hanging on her face.

She looked at Alexander with doe-eyes, these reflecting some of her still-held innocence, and appeared to be scanning Alexander with interest and intrigue.

And Alexander too was intrigued by her, especially thinking about the age difference between the two.

The bride seemed a bit too young for Kayvan.

But then again, this was not really uncommon.

Records of uncles marrying their nieces and even grandfathers marrying their granddaughters were common and even accepted in this society, so the two's marriage could even be described as appropriate for the time.

Alexander also remembered Pasha Farzah mentioning in one of his letters that one of his sons had recently gotten married to a girl from Lady Inayah's family as a way to strengthen the two family's bond.

The aged Pasha had then also added, 

'The brat is hounding me to let him go on a honeymoon with his new bride. So I'm sending him to you.'

Which partly explained why Kayvan was here.

As for why they were staying here with Lord Nuraman, well this girl had another identity, which was Lord Nuraman's youngest daughter.

Which also meant all the people in the house were actually one family.

Small world indeed.

It was also because of this that some things had conveniently become easier for Alexander.

Mainly regarding the problem of  Zanzan's lack of proper facilities to house each of the nobles separately.

Previously, Alexander could have easily housed them in his manor and provided them with all the necessary hospitality. 

But given recent developments, that was no longer possible.

So it came as a blessing that Alexander was able to ask them to share the house as a family without any embarrassment.

After all, that's what families did.

And fortunately for him, they took the idea surprisingly well, agreeing to it very amicably.

"Haha, well that's nice. It will give me the chance to know my son-in-law better!" Lord Nuraman had chuckled.

Now, Pasha Farzah had not sent his son just for pleasure.

The incumbent Pasha had also sent his son with the fleet carrying Lord Nuraman to properly oversee the goods he had sent Alexander, which were part of the 400 million ropals deal the two men had struck last year.

Pasha Farzah sent his ships bunched up with Lady Inayah's who too had a similar deal, all carrying massive amounts of grain, animals, and even a few thousand slaves, without all of which Zanzan's recovery would have been much hampered, if not regressed.

Especially the grain, when the first batch arrived in March, it really helped out Alexander, who still did not produce enough to feed his own population.

So Lady Inayah's and Pasha Farzah's ships laden with wheat, oats, barley, salted meat, fish and vegetables were all very much welcome.

Furthermore the slaves were a nice addition, something that was not originally agreed upon, but it seemed Pasha Farzah had somehow managed to scrounge together some for Alexander, likely taking a lot of them from the streets of Adhan without PP's knowledge.

Alexander had previously written to both of them regarding his losses and asked for more men, and though Lady Inayah was unable to provide extra outside of the shipyard workers, the old man responded as such, plus even secretly promised another 8,000 more from him and the Queen Mother by the end of the year

It was secret because the people would be from the streets of Adhan which PP did not approve of.

And this gesture made Alexander quite happy, as it showed that these people were willing to come to his aid when asked, reassuring him that he would have some backing if he ran into some trouble.

So when it came to returning the favor, Alexander laden the ship with some extra sugar and iron, along with the usual salt, fabric, paper, and glass products, though the last two were a bit short on quantity given a lot of their stock had been destroyed and production was yet to catch up.

By this time, these ships had completed about two-thirds of the agreed trade, with the ships due to complete their last trip for this year very soon.

And Alexander looked forward to the cargo they would be carrying.

Because Pasha Farzah promised to send the things Alexander wanted the most on the following trip, which were books and the learned acolytes.

Alexander was very excited about this because once he had the two, he could finally start his public education, using some of the books as textbooks, especially in the language courses, and employing the 'to be priests' to be part-time teachers.

In anticipation of that Alexander had even started the construction of his first schools and libraries, in very eagerness of the fact that he would at last have a way to produce officials and administrators sometime in the future.