Herald of Steel

Alexander felt the expectant gazes of the other leaders, particularly the four main ones pierce him, waiting to see how he would respond.

Luckily, he had his plans mapped out inside his head since yesterday.

But he did not want to reveal military strategy out here, in range of prying ears.

So he gestured, "Let's go to my command tent. Military matters should be discussed in secrecy."

And thus under Alexander's lead, the four main leaders and the two new leaders of the left behind Alcmene and Regias mercenaries were escorted to the same tent Nestoras had once tried to kill Alexander.

The two new mercenary leaders were very weak and had very little prestige among the other five. In fact, they were so weak that they were not been even invited to the election as viable candidates.

These two men, understanding their position thus chose to cleverly shut up and just observe the conference unfold.

"So, to begin, let us take inventory." Alexander took charge.

"Inventory?" Petricuno asked confused. He was a military man who usually left the supply side of things to others.

"Yes, inventory. Do all of the leaders know the exact situation of their individual groups? That means how many soldiers they have, how many are wounded, how many slaves they possess, how many pack animals they have, number of carts under them, amount of food and water with them, etc. I need those numbers to know how many soldiers we have, how many can fight, how many days we can march, and many more."

"Ummm…." The eager Petricuno became a bit tongue-tied and even a little red with embarrassment. Here he was a veteran of the War of Flowers being talked to like a child by essentially a child.

"Yes, I know. I have under me two hundred and…."

"That's excellent, leader Melodias. I hope you can give me the details in writing. This will help me tally up everything with the other groups." Alexander cut him off.

Then he quickly grabbed some reed parchment and started writing, saying, "Here let me give it to you in writing so it's easier to remember. These are the list of all the things I need to know."

And after some time, he handed the rough paper to Melodias and it was basically the same list as the list of things Alexander had asked Petricuno

During the entire time, the other leaders simply stood still, a little bit in awe at how fast the former slave could write.

Most of them doubted if they could write half as fast and even then their handwriting would not look anything neat like Alexander's.

Alexander pretended not to notice the surprised gazes, but instead addressed, "Let me give each of the leaders a copy."

Once this labor-intensive, tedious job was done Alexander set a deadline, "We should leave Adhania as soon as possible. So, please give an accurate count by tomorrow morning."

"You can count on me commander," Heliptos quickly said.

This voice snatched Alexander's attention and recalled that this greedy man up until now had just spoken two times.

'Is he being shunned by the other mercenary leaders,' Alexander wondered about the man he took in his faction.

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Following Heliptos, the others too agreed.

Then Alexander bought up the issue of what to do about Adhania.

This was mostly symbolic as everyone had already decided on 'escape and no surrender.' and the unanimous decision was once again officially said.

At this point, fearing the other mercenary leaders might blame him for taking too much of the spotlight, Alexander asked for input from someone else, "Leader Menicus, as the eldest here what should we discuss next?"

This secretly pleased the veteran as anyone likes having their opinion heard and their words taken heed of.

But the experienced mercenary hid his pleasure and gruffly said, "Hmph, you brats have not even determined the route."

"Yes, that is a very big concern. Should we go back the route we came or should we look for another route? Melodias poignantly asked the men in the room.

"Do we have a map of the way we came?" Alexander hopefully asked.

But received a predictable shake of the head from all the men.

After all, maps were absurdly difficult and expensive to make and were considered national treasures of extreme strategic importance by the people of that area.

Alexander held no hope for any real map with any real details.

"So, how did we get here in the first place?" He pressed.

"We were led by guides. Cantagena had bought them with their army." Heliptos offered the information.

"And are these guides alive?" Though Alexander doubted he would be so lucky.

"I don't know," Heliptos replied, slightly embarrassed.

"Then find out," Alexander said in exasperation.

Then he showed his trust and also assess Heliptos's competence by delegating this extremely crucial task to him, "I am giving you the job Heliptos. I'm counting on you."

"I will scour the Cantegenan camp man to man. If there's any guide left alive, I swear by the gods I will bring him before the commander by tomorrow." Heliptos understood only by displaying his usefulness could he hope to gain the approval of the other leaders and have them support his claim as Damious's successor.

"Good, I will await your good news," Alexander nodded.

Then continued, "But we must be prepared for the worst-case scenario that all the guides are either dead or have run away. Leader Petricuno, what's your opinion then?"

This rash mercenary had not said a single word after his embarrassing failure some time ago and this was Alexander's way of allowing him to smoothly enter the conversation again.

So he folded his arms onto his chest and said, "I think we should just south and ask the locals for directions."

"Will we even find any locals after we burnt their villages to the ground? And even if we did, what makes you believe anything they say is credible?" This was Menicus, mercilessly jabbing at Petricuno.

But the fiery mercenary was not to be outdone.

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He shot back, "We can just take them with us."

"Haha, great idea. Let's take in more mouths to feed when we are already short on food. And pretty soon we can have the whole of Adhania following us, begging us for food. What an idea!" Menicus's barbed tongue took no prisoner.

"Even if we could take them, once they do lead us the wrong way, what them? Even if we killed them afterward, it would not change the fact we would be still lost." Heliptos pointed out.

The flushed mercenary had no reply.

Seeing the man being figuratively mercilessly beaten, Alexander attempted a rescue, "I actually quite like leader Petricuno's idea. I believe with a little improvisation, it could work."

Alexander's words carried a lot of weight around here and so instead of outright making fun of him, the four pair of eyes turned their gaze towards him.

"We will first transform some of your pack horses into scouting cavalry. These cavalries will disguise themselves as Adhanians or merchant escorts and ask the locals for directions. We can give each scout some coin or food to use to loosen the tongues of the villagers." Alexander laid out his plan.

"Excellent, excellent." Alexander's sycophant Heliptos was the first one to shout out, even shaking his arms animatedly to show his overwhelming support.

And for the first time, this act did not displease the other mercenary leaders.

They even somewhat approved of it, though maybe not quite to the extent Heliptos was making up to it.

"I will lead this scouting party myself," Petricuno aggressively appointed himself.

"You are a fighter, not a talker. Let the smooth talker Melodias do it." Menicus shot him down.

Alexander too was not in favor of having this ill-tempered mercenary lead the delicate task of information gathering.

He feared the quick-to-act armed mercenary might simply kill any civilians if he did not like their answer or attitude.

So he too politely said, "Leader Petricuno is a warrior among warriors. I am afraid most villagers might simply run away if they spot you approaching them. On the other hand, leader Melodias is much more …ummm..effeminate. So they will likely be much looser with their tongues with him."

Alexander could not think of a good way to describe Melodias as weak other than using the word 'effeminate.'

This was not a nice word to use to describe a man, much less a mercenary soldier and so immediately after speaking, Alexander secretly shot a look of apology to Melodias.

Melodias only returned a wry smile.

And Petricuno could only sulkily watch as 'his idea' get used by Melodias

"I will send by men to try and gather as much information as possible as soon as possible," Melodias promised.

,m "Good, then I believe we have just one last thing to discuss before concluding the meeting, the Cantagenans."

This was the problem all the leaders had kicked down the road yesterday to decide 'later.'

Well, today and now was that 'later.'