Herald of Steel

The first round of drinking and feasting subsided quickly, mostly because Alexander and company found the drinks and items a bit lacking, and the entertainment, i.e.- beautiful girls and even boys for some, to sleep with was almost nonexistent.

The lack of entertainment was of course because Kalimat as a city was quite tiny to begin with.

And after the battle, its sparse population became even more scattered.

At the same time, most of the 'delectable treats' that might have been available for the victors had already been ruined by the mercenaries who had tried to sack the city the night prior.

Thus the chronic shortage of a good lay.

And it was to the point top that even the top dog Alexander had to go to sleep on a cold bed.

Now, it had been arranged for Alexander to have a maid from the mansion to warm his bed, but he found the woman not up to his standard.

There was also the fact that she was married, being the wife of a city guard, and from the way she behaved, although she did not explicitly say it, Alexander suspected that she might have been sent here against her will under duress.

This did not at all sit well with Alexander and thus he dismissed her with the excuse that he was feeling quite tired and drunk.

Although that actually worked against her, as given the huge demand for her kind services, the free woman was naturally not allowed to return home, but given that her time slot had just opened up, she was made to serve not only one man as she would have with Alexander, but multiple men, many times at the same time.

While her liberator also did not have too much of a good time, as Alexander quickly came to regret that decision when he felt his lower half throbbing and pressing against his breeches up laying in his bed, feeling quite uncomfortable as the little brother sought release and revelry in celebration for his accomplishments.

Alexander had recently come to realize that during campaigns all his lust and sexual needs would suddenly disappear completely, making him hyper focused on the task at hand.

But when it ended, that desire for physical gratification would return with a vengeance.

Hence, although he did not show, for the next few days Alexander had to try really hard to keep it in his pants.

As for the query of why he did not rub himself one out if he was so desperate, well that was simple- because it was a matter of pride.

Every time his empty hands tried to reach for his spear and pleasure himself, Alexander heard his own haughty voice ring inside him, - 'What are you doing! You are the Pasha of Zanzan, and the conqueror of Tibias, a country that had defied the superpower Adhania for millennia.'

'How can your pride allow you to do such a thing? This is only a thing that a lonely teenager all alone in his bedroom would do!'

'Do you think you lack bitches? One snap of your finger and you will have a line ready of open their legs that stretched from this side of the city to the other!'

It was because of such 'admonishment' that Alexander refused the older maid, instead choosing to endure the pain until he found someone up to his standard.

Which helped no one, as Alexander's nights were still 'cramped' and he even contemplated,

'Maybe I should bring one of the girls next time I go on campaign like the other nobles do.'

This thought came upon recalling that many of the higher ranking men under him brought their concubines and wives with them to ease the discomfort of the travel.

But the thing that made Alexander reluctant to do so was one- military discipline, where there was no place for such frivolous acts.

And two- because many times the nobles there wanted to taste flesh that did not exactly belong to them, so they would swap.

In fact, he knew of many nobles who would be very willing to go to war just because they knew would have the opportunity to sleep with a variety of women, all of very high standards.

To the men practicing this, it sounded like a great deal, as they could experience many women, with just one or two of their own.

To Alexander, however, this was an impossible practice.

And he feared that if he brought his own, he would be expected to follow suit or be disliked, even ostracized by them.

Thus Alexander was forced to remove that thought and make a note that although he allowed this for now, it would sooner or later be slowly abolished.

Since the celebrations ended quickly, Alexander decided not to dally in the city for much longer.

The true celebrations could wait until they returned to Zanzan, or at least the conquered capital of Parthenight.

There was also the fact that although they might have won the war, there was still quite a lot of work to be done in the aftermath.

Such as the juicy event of carving up Tibias among themselves.

Many nobles drolled just at the thought.

So they only stayed in the small city of Kalimat for a few days, preparing their provisions and working out the return route in the meantime.

And it was on one of those days whilst all this was going on that Alexander also finally got to know the reason behind Papando's betrayal.

When asked about it, the man frankly confessed,

"Great Pasha, you must think lowly of me for betraying my family. But you only need to ask the people of the city what kind of tyrant my father was to get the answer."

"I had long wished to rid him of us, but that…." The man suddenly trailed off as if he was stuck between whether to badmouth his father or to tell the truth.

He decided to only produce a silent pause, before finishing by saying, "It is my and this city's great fortune that you came here when you did my lord. Surely you are our liberator."

The man would later enlighten Alexander about the various crimes of the city lord, making the man truly befit of the title tyrant.

This noble would severely punish people for the slightest slight, such as once killing off the entire fourteen generations of his stablemaster after he was caught stealing food, regularly beating and abusing both people and the slaves, picking up any women that caught his fancy from the streets, driving many businesses destitute because they offered better prices than his own poorly ran enterprise, and many other crimes too numerous to list.

The man might have been not as deviant as someone like Pasha Muazz, but still very deplorable.

And for his crimes, Alexander had wanted to originally try and hang the man in the marketplace publicly, as compensation for his crimes.

But when he proposed his thoughts to the accompanying nobles, it was instantly and vehemently opposed by all, particularly the Tibian nobles with Papando himself included.

The reasons why the nobles opposed it was because the mere thought that one of them would be tried and treated like a common criminal mortified them.

If that could happen to one of them, if one of them could be humiliated like that, what was stopping it from one day happening to them?

They all shuddered at the thought.

And furthermore felt their hearts palpate when they realized such a thing could destroy the all powerful, almighty public image they held in the public's heart.

After all, if someone as powerful as the city lord was shown to be so corrupt so openly, well it could cause rebellious thoughts to sprout in the people.

Thus many of the nobles petitioned,

"My lord, certainly the Lord of Kalimat might have overstepped his bounds, but surely he does not deserve such humiliation!" posing as if the nobleman's actions were not too grievous.

It was truly a showcase of the very low standard of moral values of the time.

While the nobles wanted to prevent such a thing due to their own selfish reasons, for Papando, seeing his father be humiliated also did not sit well for him.

Hence he cleverly reasoned, "My lord, if my father's crimes are exposed, the people might not respect me by association. So please reconsider."

Alexander was impressed upon hearing this.

He also liked the fact there was a man who did not become corrupted despite his father's machinations.

It seemed in this case, the apple had truly fallen far from the tree.

Thus given that both these sides wanted the man quietly man gone, if not released outright, as some of the nobles hinted towards, Alex settled for only making the man silently disappear.

According to official statements, the people were told that the previous city lord had died during the fight with Grahtos, while in reality the man was taken to the mansion's underground dungeon and unceremoniously executed.

Then the son Papando was naturally chosen as the new governor of the city, as well as receiving a gold reward of 100,000 ropals, for, as Alexander put in, 'Aiding the people of the city in resisting the tyrant.'

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