Herald of Steel

Remus had joined Nestoras's group around the age of 14 and it was Alexander who had shown the boy the ropes, taking him under his tutelage and teaching him the various skills needed for the job.

And it was a status that stuck even five, almost six years later.

"Haha, do not be too humble yourself, Menes," To Menes's wholehearted praise, Remus chuckled politely, replying, 

"I heard the men singing about your bravery too. How you stood at the very front lines fighting side by side without a care for your life."

"If it was Alexander, he would have surely run, hahaha." Remus jokingly chortled with a nasal groan.

But Menes did not certainly find it even the least bit funny.

"*Bang!* Who said that!" He boomed, smashing his enormous fist into the hard oak table and 

destroying the amicable atmosphere with a thundering roar and unending fury. 

"...." Add Remus immediately clamped his mouth shut.

"Who said that!" Seeing the other side go quiet, Menes again boomed, this time sounding even more engaged.

"It was nothing. Just drunk men talking. They did not mean anything by it." Remus instinctively blurted out, quickly waving his hand to demonstrate the triviality of it.

"Who said that!" But Menes only shouted this, bloodthirstily searching for a name.

"It… I forget! I was drinking with Melodias and everyone and I can't remember!" Remus felt it would be really no good to reveal any names, for that person's sake.

So he brought up Melodias and indicated the presence of other high level officers in the midst as he lied.

That way Menes would not dare to do anything to do them.

At best, he would tattle to Alexander about this.

But during all this time, Remus could not figure out what he had said to engage the usually amicable man so much.

While Menes, hearing Remus's answer finally ceased his outburst and leaned back on his chair, but the man was still smoldering.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

And then Menes in a grim but monotone voice revealed, "Alexander is not me. He cannot be allowed to face any risk that endangers his life."

"Because if I die, there will be many replacements. But if he dies….. everything we have will fall apart." 

And that was when Remus was enlightened to the reason behind Menes's rage.

"You fear that if these soldiers talk like this, Alexander will be pushed into fighting more and more in the frontlines to earn the soldiers' trust." Remus pointed out.

"Yes." Menes heavily nodded, "That's why I want the names."

"..." Facing Menes's placid glare, the cogs in Remus's head started spinning.

Of course, he could reveal some names.

But he feared what Menes might do to them.

Especially given some of them were among the 112 men that served him.

So Remus cleverly posed, "Let me handle this with the other punishment too. I promise they will not speak like this ever. Not even when they are drunk." 

".....Mnnn," And to this Menes curtly nodded, before dismissing the man.

Alexander would be informed of the result of the battle not on that very day but the day after, at around midday.

The reason for this almost 24 hour delay was because Menes had dispatched the messenger bird at only around midday after the battle was over.

And dusk had fallen before the bird could cover the nearly 500 kilometer journey.

So the little animal took refuge on a tree branch for the night, which was a good thing because at around dawn, just as it was about to set off, a torrential rainfall with almost gale force winds soon hit the area, one that lasted for hours.

Thus, it was only after the weather had cleared that the small bird was able to cover the last leg of the journey.

And around the time the message landed on the coup, Alexander was accompanying a guest in his room- Lady Felicia.

The duo sat around a very small table, with a basket of various assortments of fruits such as pears, figs, grapes, cherries, nuts, etc. placed at the center of it, along with a wine jar and two ornate goblets.

The pair's eyes were not directed at each other, but towards the large open balcony, for there were five children playing there, accompanied by various toys.

The biggest one there was Alexander's official mistress- Fabiyana, who today wore a deep blue full piece frock, and seemed to be acting as the leader of the group, asking everyone to follow her example as well as showing Alexander's two girls and two boys how to play with the various toys.

Among these paraphernalia were wooden toys like horses and chariots, wooden and wollen dolls of various shapes and sizes as well as beautifully colored blocks with slotted carvings that could fit together like a puzzle.

And that was the five were mainly playing with, trying to build a tower as high as possible without crashing it.

Overseeing them were two middle aged nannies, making sure none of them got hurt or into any fights.

Something that the two 1 year old brothers and sisters, Afsan and Ophenia seemed very eager to engage in but was mostly prevented by the much larger Fabiyana.

"Please accept my sincerest gratitude my lord. Even since Fabiyana started coming here, she has been so much happier." Gazing at her giggling daughter playing in the sunlight, Lady Felicia sitting inside the room expressed this in a very sincere motherly tone, adding, 

"Even since she was little, without any brother or sister to play with she had been very lonely. But now, every day when she returns home, all she talks about is you and Alexandria and all the things that had happened that day."

"Even I have not seen her smile like this ever." The lady, dressed in a pure white frock with a caramel shawl draped over her upper torso smiled at Alexander saying so.

"That's good." And Alexander lightly nodded, before adding with a joking smirk, "Though looking at her Fabiyana like this makes her feel more like my daughter than my bride, wouldn't you say, Lady Felicia, hmm?" He hummed.

"...." To this, the raven haired lady first produced an awkward smile, but then quickly blurted, "My lord….. Fabiyana… Fabiyana is just a bit immature. I'm sure she will quickly grow up to meet your liking."

She was afraid Alexander might not favor Fabiyana anymore.

But it was only at that point that she noticed that there was a teasing undertone to Alexander's voice and she froze for a moment.

Before quickly recovering herself and lightly chucking, "But then again, perhaps my lord prefers her like that. I heard you asked Fabiyana to call you big brother." 

Lady Felicia's beautiful eyes narrowed as she delivered this wagging jibe.

"Hahaha, well hearing her call me Lord Husband sounded too sinful. So I tricked her by saying that all the others call me husband, but because I favor her so much, I will let her call me big brother, hahaha." Alexander very amicably revealed the process, while internally musing, 'At least I did not make her call me Oni chan. That really would have been too degenerate.'

"Yes, Fabiyana told me." 

"Aiya! To think my daughter would be tricked like this by her own husband. Ohhh… as a mother I can't help but worry." And hearing so Lady Felicia exaggeratedly reacted so, playfully smacking her forehead with her palm and ruefully shaking it.

The two were not really discussing anything important but simply bantering.

Until now that is, as Alexander's tone suddenly turned a bit more strong and serious, 

"How is the city doing? How are the people? Has trading in the city started to pick up? Have the projects I wanted started ?" Alexander took a sip of the sweet wine as he posed so.

"The city is recovering rapidly my lord, all thanks to you." And at the question, Lady Felicia bolted up straight, wiping away the leisurely air.

This was the real reason why she was invited to the room and she tried to be as professional as possible when questioned regarding this, as she delineated,

"The city has been mostly rebuilt, my lord. The men and money you have provided proved crucial and it was only because so that we able to complete that endeavor during the winter."

"That really helped the people given the cold winter we had. If not for you, a lot of them would have died."

"All of us here in the city are very grateful for that." Saying so, Lady Felicia shortly bowed, while pulling a light smile.

Before continuing, 

"The people are also mostly happy. The money and food that you gave them really helped change people's perception, and because you let them continue to worship their ancestors, many would be agitators found themselves without much support."

"Oh?" And it was at this point, that Alexander decided to interject with a surprised hum, "Weren't the people angry that I replaced their ancestor status with an idol of my own?"

This of course referred to that impromptu assassination attempt at the main temple and the subsequent demand.

"Hahaha, no." To which Lady Felicia gave a kind of forced hollow chuckle like she was hiding something.

And this caused Alexander's eyes to narrow.

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