Herald of Steel

Lord Janus was understandably very angry at the way they were being treated by their home country.

And Lady Miranda seemed to be in simpatico with that.

"Uncle Janus is right. We won this money through our sweat and blood! Our men bled to get it." "And to think the Kaiser Family gets nothing but a slap on the wrist for almost driving us to destruction!"

"Aghhh…" Lady Miranda's emotions got the better of her as she grunted, producing a very unlady-like sound.

But it seemed in this instance she did not care, as after this, she continued her vent unabetted, 

"Even the original accusation of us supplying weapons to Iyizarid was all fake!"

"But when we asked the federation council to look into it and hold the Kaiser Family accountable for maliciously starting a war, they brushed it all under the rug like it was nothing."

"Saying things like since we won and the Kaiser Family paid us so much money, they had already been punished"

"Ridiculous!" 

It was very apparent that like her counterpart, Lady Miranda too was very vexed.

And as soon as she finished, Lord Janus quickly added to that indignant flame, 

"What is even more shameless They did not even give us the full money! Only half of the promised 200 million!"

"The other half they said they paid to the Marsh family. 'To help them in their time of need' they said'."

"Bah! Bullshit." Lord Janus spat in anger and grief, producing a face not expected to be on a nobleman, 

"Clearly that Marsh brat used that money to buy time for himself."

"Filthy cheater!" 

It took a while for Alexander to understand what Lord Janus was referring to, but basically, it seemed that one of the contenders for the position of the Marsh family head had come to the Kaiser family with the proposal that if they promised to not attack them for a while, they can keep 100 million ropals for themselves.

Then he told the Margrave family that he took half of the money due to his family's time of need as well as payment for all the services and protection they had provided them till now.

Even though the Margraves regularly paid tithes to them.

It was clearly a plot to scam the Margraves, and unfortunately, they were too weak to do anything about it.

"Yes! If we knew this would happen, we would have never let Straus go!" And Lord Janus's reminder of the event, Lady Miranda added this regretfully, her tone bitter.

Governor Straus, who was captured during the war, was kept in captivity for just a few weeks, only until a ransom deal could be reached between the Margraves and Kaisers.

And once the two sides swore on the deal he was let out, as there was seen no reason to hold him any longer.

Because it was unimaginable to think that any party would renege on their promise after swearing to the gods, 

And technically, the Kaiser family did fulfill their promise or seemed to on paper.

Alexander very patiently listened to the two nobleman and woman vent, keeping his eyes focused and ears perked up.

And after finally feeling the two had exhausted recounting their misfortunes, he began to form a picture of their circumstances. 

  Alexander felt that this once strong family now seemed to be surrounded by predators from all sides.

This on one hand might be a good thing as it meant Alexander would be their only ally and he could charge them a premium.

But on the other hand, it could also mean supporting a lost cause, an ally who was destined to be snuffed out, while at the same time possibly their enemies also becoming his.

Opportunity and danger existed side by side it seemed. 

But then Alexander seemed to notice a small flaw in his picture.

So he asked, 

"It seems quite strange to me that all the nobles would choose to so blatantly ignore the destruction of a powerful noble house like yours?"

"Aren't noble houses supposed to be protected from such blatant direct attacks?"

"Also aren't you one of the biggest weapons producers in this region? Don't you have a lot of influence? Why is everyone willing to overlook that fact?"

He felt all the noble's lukewarm attitude did not make sense.

But Alexander's reasoning here seemed to be a bit faulty as Lord Janus helped him clear some of his doubts.

"Lord Alexander is perhaps misinterpreting the picture." He drew Alexander's attention, 

"From our words, it might seem like that all the nobles, including the thirteen dukes, are against us."

"But in reality, most are only curious bystanders."

"The real conflict is between the Kaiser and Marsh family, and as long as they keep it between themselves, none of the other families will intervene."

"That is the rule they set."

"So our real enemy is only the Kaiser family," He emphasized, 

And then added with an admitting tone, 

"But yes, you are right lord Alexander. Normally such 'under the open sky attacks' would never go over the council."

"But it seems our luck is just bad." 

"The losses we suffered at Iyizarid's hands really appeared to have something to do with Lord March's (Head of the Marsh family) generalship."

"I'm still unclear on the details, but that seems to be the prevailing thought." 

"So many in the council see our destruction as a way to punish the March family. And the Kaiser Family is leading the charge on that."

"The others are not eager enough to come after us on their own, but like as I have before, they don't seem eager to help either."

"If we can brave the storm and survive against the Kaiser family, they will accept us."

"And if we can't….." Lord Janus helplessly shrugged his shoulder, knowing what fate awaited them upon failure. 

While Alexander could help but half smirk, 'What luck! To be sunk by the very family who promised to be your protectorate.'

It seemed to him that the Margrave family was the sailor on the ship called the Marsh Family.

Normally, the ship kept everyone safe and afloat.

But now that the vessel had begun to sink….the sailors were scrambling to survive.

"I see. Thank you, Lord Janus. I did not see it like that," At getting a clearer picture and understanding the Margraves might not be screwed as badly as he thought, he heaved half a sigh of relief. 

Business could still continue as was.

As LF finished,  Lady Miranda then added her piece, stating, 

".Also...we once did have a lot of influence. But now…" her tone very bitter voice, 

"Now with our navy destroyed and all our experienced seamen lost, we are no longer able to wield weight like before behind our words." 

"Many people were already greedy for our trade routes before. Now, these are the ones leading the attack, trying to break us and have it all for themselves."

"While many other opportunistic hyenas are tailing them behind."

"*Sigh*"

Lady Miranda seemed much more mature than her previous visit, as evidenced by how eloquently she described her enemies.

It seems greed was truly the source of all sins.

And Lord Janus agreed, saying, 

"Mmmm, our current inability to properly protect our shipping routes is certainly a concern." "Many of our ships have even started being attacked by pirates."

"Trade is down by almost half compared to pre-war levels."

"Huh! What pirates! Vultures!"

It was apparent that their enemies were plundering their cargo disguised as raiders.

Both sides knew it, but the Margraves ahd no proof.

"Hmmm, that is indeed a problem. I would have lent you my navy…but…" Alexander here made an exaggerated claim.

Even if he ahd the navy, it was unlikely he would have done that.

'Thank you, my lord," And although the other side knew it, well, it was the thought that counted.

"Oh, there was something else I wanted to ask you," Then suddenly Alexander started with this, turning to face the lord and lady and stating, 

"I remember Lady Miranda saying you were attacked because  Iyizarid took a lot of Sybarsis's lands and the council in turn wanted yours."

"Now, could it be the reason not more of the dukes have joined to attack you is because they fear an attack by  Iyizarid?"

"Do you know anything about that?"

Alexander made that bold assumption.

  Iyizarid was a very expansionist, militaristic nation after all

"......."

But compared to the giant leap Alexander took in logic, the other party seemed mute and unresponsive, as if they hadn't even properly heard the question.

"We..we don't know," And it took Lord Janus a good couple of seconds to give this simple answer in a stuttering tone.

While Lady Miranda was a bit more helpful, as she elucidated, 

"Mmm, Uncle Jnaus is right. Although we have a few spies there, they are basically very low-level." 

"They can only tell us what the general people know."

"As for knowing  Iyizarid's future military plans, I doubt even Sybarsis's highest spies have anything close to that."

"If we had that Iyizarid would not be such a problem hahaha!"

Lady Miranda seemed to think Alexander's thinking here was totally wrong. 

She also felt that given the amount of territory  Iyizarid had just two years ago, they should be busy consolidating it for a few years before they struck again.

While Lord Janus believed that Alexander was reading into this  Iyizarid thing a bit too much.

As for the man himself, he said to himself, 'Well, if they do not want to attack, perhaps I can encourage them."