Herald of Steel

Since the city of Kalimat was right next to a river city, rather than marching his huge force through the land, Alexander had decided to send a part of his army along it.

This relatively small river was still part of the huge tributary network that spanned across the entire country, its mother- the mighty Diannu river.

Thus by following it, it was found that they could easily reach Alexander's next destination- the capital Parthenight.

This was one of the most important things that Alexander's men were busy preparing for while the young lord busied himself with his own troubles, as they tried to requisition every available boat in the surrounding vicinity to enable the journey.

However despite their best efforts, given the city's small size and population as well as simply the limited size of the waterway, they were only able to gather a modest number of boats, certainly not enough to escort the more than 40,000 of Alexander's men.

In fact, if you counted the women and children of the newly joined mercenaries as well as the slaves and servants of his own army, that number under Alexander actually reached closer to 70,000- the size of an entire city, making it understandable why the men had failed in their endeavor.

Which was why Alexander decided to use the limited number of boats to send only the physically ill and weak,- such as the wounded and the women and children through the more comfortable path, feeling they would only slow the rest of the party down, while the men marched- including himself.

Alexander could have of course taken the boat but refused to do so for a myriad of reasons.

Outwardly, it was to show that he was just one of the soldiers, ready to bear all the hardship that they too took.

And this propaganda worked quite nicely, as the soldiers were very impressed that their lord was willing to be with them even after they had won and the campaign was over, thus letting Alexander command greater respect for his army.

While internally, Alexander denied himself this comfort mainly because he personally did not like the inherent danger that came with boats- the ever looming threat of drowning.

Given the high status he had managed to achieve in his life, Alexander had grown to love his life more and more dearly and was thus afraid of any such accidents occurring whilst travelling.

He feared that if anything were to happen, surrounded by water on all sides, he would be quite trapped, having a very hard time escaping.

As for what that accident could be,- well the most obvious one would of course be a strong seasonal storm that could capsize a boat..

This was currently the middle of summer and the weather here was quite unpredictable.

And even if the waters stayed calm, Alexander had to also consider the ever present threat of an opportunistic ambush by some small unknown resistance group still lingering in the unexplored woods, wishing to take their revenge on Alexander.

Many prominent figures had died like this, such as Hannibal's own father - who was one of the greatest generals of his time too, and died in an ambush while crossing a river.

Or King Fredrick Barbarossa who had, according to some accounts, fallen into the river from his horse whilst in a campaign and then was unable to get back up due to the heavy armor he was wearing, thus getting swept away by the strong currents.

Alexander did not want to either of them.

It was also because of this that Alexander decided not to the boats carry much of the loot he had collected from Perseus's camp, much more preferring to haul the heavy cargo hundreds of kilometers by land, else fearing they might be lost of the waters.

When Alexander was finally starting to leave the city, Papando had repeatedly invited him to spend a bit more time there, while the surviving residents half sighed in regret seeing them leave. as the presence of such a huge number of men meant business had been boomed during the past few days.

Most businesses had been able to sell their stock twice or even thrice the normal price given the huge price, while the whores had earned so much coin that they started to walk bow legged.

But at the same time they also half sighed in relief as having so many armed foreigners right on their doorsteps was always a disquieting feeling.

Although most of the soldiers paid for the things they took from these shops, who knew when that could change?

Thus the populace generally felt that it was a good thing that Alexander had left had.

The three week journey from Kalimat to Parthenigh was largely uneventful for Alexander, with the traveling men mostly keeping their spirit high all along the journey, buoyed by their magnificent win and periodically cheering at all the loot they had managed to haul.

It was amongst such revelry that Alexander reentered the capital, where his reception was understandably lukewarm to say the least.

In fact, as he moved through the streets, Alexander noticed that the houses on both sides of the streets had all their windows tightly shut as if the people were afraid to even look at him.

'Do they think I'm going to sack them?' Alexander mirthlessly chuckled in his heart.

But he did not do any offense to the actions of these people.

They were not worth it.

Instead, he turned his attention more to the magnificent feat that surely awaited him at the palace.

Alexander's approach to here was no secret and given the news of his victory had already spread, he was sure the palace would be ready to receive him with the most appropriate refreshments.

And he was not disappointed, as the proper attitude was set right at the outer gates of the palace, the one that did not even lead to the palace, but simply the palace walkway.

It was from this point that Alexander was personally received by the three most prominent royals residing there- Queen Parthia, and his two daughters, who were then flanked by various members of the surviving royal family, all led by Theony.

Yes, while Alexander was away, he left the city temporarily in charge of Lord Theony's son, with a small garrison to make sure the man followed the orders.

"Greetings, oh great conqueror.'' The first to receive Alexander at the gates was the queen herself, who pronounced these words in a sweet, clear voice, like it was a lullaby, as she then elegantly bowed, leading everyone else to follow suit.

There must have been at least 50 people present there, minus the guards, and seeing all these once haughty individuals lowered their heads so deeply in such a synchronous manner, greatly stoked Alexander's ego.

These were people who were supposed to only receive other's bow, not ever receive it.

But here he was, once a mere slave, now a great conqueror, forcing them to commit exactly such a humiliating display.

The realization filled his heart with joy and pride.

So he took his time scanning all the raven heads pointing differentially towards him and internally gloating to himself.

"You may rise," And it took Alexander a moment to respond to their action, as he finally gestured them up with his arms while trying to make his voice as deep and and imperious as he could muster.

And once the entourage was again standing still, Alexander imperiously looked down on them atop his magnificently decorated horse, trying to memorize the various delicious faces these people were making knowing their time up.

Until finally Alexander's eyes landed on the mature woman- the Queen, the most beautiful flower out of them all.

He found that the lady, who he was told to be in her mid to late forties, looked barely in her early thirties.

Her face, although mired with a deep air of melancholy given their fall of grace was still very beautiful- heart shaped with fluffy rosy cheeks, a small cute nose, thick ruby red lips and slightly slanted up, phoenix like eyes.

Her jet black raven hair was very simply done, and Alexander had noticed that it was only tied to the back with a tasteful hair band made in the shape of a metallic flowers that was stubbed with jewels.

It was neither too gaudy nor looked to be of too low quality, conveying a sense of restraint and elegance, making Alexander suspects that the lady had probably done so intentionally, to show Alexander that although they were not destitute, but they were also not as rich as him, and that they were his subjects.

It was a symbolic surrender that Alexander quite appreciated.

Following her face, Alexander found her body wrapped up in a jet black gown to sport a very curvy figure, with ample motherly bosoms and a thick flank.

Where the body needed meat, she had meat and wherever it was deemed unsightly, she had shed.

A combination of good food, good status and good genes seemed to have produced a bombshell of a woman, and given Alexander's pent up status, his eyes suddenly burned with embers towards this mature woman.

A sight that did not go unnoticed by Lady Pathia who had been very sensitive to such looks and she shuddered.

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