Herald of Steel

Alexander's next few weeks were jam-packed.

First of all, the goods and men Pasha Farzah had promised finally arrived.

And these needed Alexander's personal attention. 

Particularly all the precious books that the ships contained were transferred to his house for now, to be stored in his study until the new public library could be finished.

These books, many being their original copies, were almost worth their weight in gold and Alexander was there to personally oversee their handling, to make sure the workers were very careful.

And though Alexander knew the value of books before, but actually seeing it for himself was a very different feeling altogether.

Each time he saw the workers move these stacks of tomes onto a cart for transportation, he felt like he was looking at his children, becuase only now was he really coming to terms that he had paid around half a million ropals each for only a few pages of simple parchment with ink on it.

It was a very special feeling.

And so take care of his children, he even hired two special people whose only job was to keep them clean, regularly dusting them.

They also ensured nothing like moistness or dampness affected them, or that bugs like silverfish which ate paper could damage them.

Aside from the books, the other main cargo was the new 'to be made into priests' acolytes that Pasha Farzah had sent over.

They were handed over to Theocles, it being his directive to take care of their lodgings.

And after asking for Alexander's permission, he placed them in some of the newly completed apartment buildings.

This was the main event that occupied him for most of August.

Then there was Cambyses's approaching delivery date.

By the midwife's estimate, Cambyses was seven months pregnant and the experienced middle-aged woman recommended Cambyses stay at home and not strain herself too much, only going out for walks around the back garden.

Also Cambyses seemed to have entered a bout of depression around this time, constantly worrying what would happen if it was not a boy.

This type of behavior was common during pregnancy, due to hormonal imbalances and was made worse by the prevailing culture of the culture.

And it seemed this affected Cambyses particularly badly, causing her to break into uncontrollable sobs or hysterical fits of rage over the smallest thing or sometimes nothing at all. 

A few times she even got into giant rows with others in the house over insignificant issues. 

And though Alexander tried his best to console hers and rein her in her mood swings, it only had limited effect.

So Alexander tried to be with Cambyses as frequently as possible.

This was the second thing that took his attention. 

And the last thing that required his presence was the report of a few ships entering the port carrying a particular flag.

It bore the flag of the Margrave Family!

"Lady Lady Miranda, Lord Janus, I'm so glad to see you. Welcome! Welcome! I presume the war went well, haha haha!" 

Seeing that his only friendly foreign contact was still alive certainly cheered Alexander, as he enthusiastically welcomed them into his house, telling them to make themselves comfortable on the couch.

"Ahhh, Lord Alexander. It is also a pleasure to meet you again. And yes, thanks to your aid, we did manage to get a favorable result," Lady Miranda in a sweet, cordial tone, warmly replied to Alexander.

Looking at the lady, the most noticeable change Alexander found was that her belly had returned to normal, clear evidence of her delivery, which made the gown she wore fit snugly to her.

While she herself seemed to have also gained some weight, a phenomenon quite common after pregnancy.

So her arms seemed to have gotten a lot meatier and a few folds of flesh seemed to have formed on her cheeks, giving some heaviness to her countenance. 

Aside from her figure, Alexander also found Lady Miranda to be even more gaudily dressed than when he had last met her like she had managed to finally retrieve all personal belongings lost in the flood and was now ready to display her true wealth.

To that effect, she had much more lavish and intricate jewelry decorating her, the work on them being exquisite. while the full-sleeved blue gown she wore was studded along the seams with all kinds of rubies, diamonds, and very expensive gold threadworks, making her truly look like the matriarch of a renowned noble family.

"We are sorry, it took us so long to come visit, my lord. It was a true oversight on our part, a true breach of etiquette,"

While next to her was the much older Lord Janus, who looked much livelier than the last time Alexander met him, almost certainly due to him being under much less pressure.

He wore a nice clean, coat, with a single ruby ring on one of his fingers, his white hair brushed back, and beard well-oiled and trimmed.

Compared to his previous sailor outlook, he now looked much more like a noble.

Hearing Lord Janus's apology, which was more courtesy than sincere, Alexander too breezily brushed it off, 

"No, no, I'm well aware of the difficulties my lord should have been under. I'm simply overjoyed to see you again!"

"I was beginning to get worried that since there was no news."

"Even Mister Harold seemed to be busy, He's not been to Zanzan for almost a year." 

Through such small talks, Alexander and the two got to retelling what had occurred in each's life, over the last year, and frankly, it was a lot for both sides.

Alexander went first, telling them very briefly of the war, and how his house burnt down, which also went to explain why he was receiving them in such a shabbier house compared to his grand manor.

"Ah! How terrible! It is truly lucky that my lord was not injured. Truly the gods are with you!"  And hearing about his ordeals, Lady Miranda expressed her sympathizes as such, while Lord Janus also made similar comments.

Then, after Alexander, the pair revealed their own goings in life.

Lord Janus went first as he informed Alexander of Harold, who had been made a baron due to his contributions by Lady Miranda's grandfather and was busy managing his territory.

That's why he made no trip to Zanzan.

"Hahaha, it seems the next time I meet Harold, with not Lord Harold, not mister," Alexander, hearing the former merchant's turn of fortunes chuckled as such.

Then Lord Janus went over their battle with Governor Straus, the reparations they managed to get as a result of winning, as well as the current condition of their lands, which was slowly recovering but still needed some time.

  But what Alexander paid his ear to most was the Margrave Family's current relationship with Sybarsis.

"After the losses our benefactor family- The Marsh Family suffered, they seem to have fractured and are in a battle of succession."

"There are many who want the main lineage family to take responsibility for the losses and step down, feeling they are not competent."

"While the other thirteen ducal families have yet to interfere, till now content to watch the show from afar."

"But it also means that the Marsh family is in no position to help us either."

"So we have to do what we can do alone."

Lord Janus shook his aged head ruefully as he said, lamenting the fact that when misfortune comes, it never comes alone.

"Oh? Is the Marsh family in that much danger? That they can't come to help even when you have won us a great war!"

"Might they be kicked out of the confederation council?" 

Hearing that the family was about to tear itself apart, and vulture's circles waiting for the dead meat, Alexander could not help but think of the worst-case scenario.

And being ' kicked out of the confederation council' was actually a euphemism, what Alexander really meant to say was 'destroyed'.

Because such large families tended to go out with a bang, not a whimper. 

  "Hahaha, my lord should join the dukes. You will fit right in," And Lord Janus's helpless chuckle revealed the affirmation.

Although the others had not made their move yet, the fact was they were waiting for the Marsh family to weaken itself as much as possible with its infighting. 

In fact, they had even started to secretly support some of the factions to do just that, urging them to fight each other, though Lord Janus was not aware of that fact.

But he was aware of their precarious position even after their fantastic win, feeling this was only a prelude to a much longer conflict.

So he revealed to Alexander, 

"Because of our win, we have managed to buy us some time, though not much."

"The Marsh family cannot help us, and the other twelve families also seem ambivalent. They gave us nothing solid when we reached out of them."

"Even when we explained we were being unjustly attacked, they pointed to the war reparations we got as compensation and told us to get along."

"What a joke!" Lord Janas seemed particularly worked up about this, as he swung his hand furious.

It seemed that the higher-ups of Sybarsis had no real intention of reconciling with them and intended to let the Kaiser Family do their thing.

This meant the pair was likely here seeking some kind of assistance or even alliance from Alexander.

Or who knows, perhaps even from Ptolomy himself.

Who could say?

Alexander was thus looking forward to the negotiations.