Herald of Steel

As it could be seen, Alexander had divided the triumph into three distinctive parts.

First, the people were shown all the loot that was captured.

Second, they were shown who it was who captured it.

And so the third naturally involved showing the people who aided him in this endeavor.

Meaning it was time for the army to make its appearance.

For this occasion, Alexander hence had the whole of his forces, i.e. all of the remaining 15,000 men that were still with him, participate in the parade, dressing them in their iconic blue armor and red shields along with ceremonial copper gate helmets sporting large, red plumbs, making the marching men appear taller and far more imposing.

The novel look instantly caused the crowd to shout in awe and glee,

"So tall! And they look so strong!"

"Just hear their footsteps! Like hammer hitting iron!"

"Look! There is my father! And my brother! They are back!"

"Glory of the Pasha! Glory to the heroes of Zanzan!"

The soldiers marched down the wide, newly paved streets in an orderly square-sized formation, with many of the trumpeters and signallers in the unit sporting a tune all by themselves, adding much merriment to the festivities.

However, as the units proceeded, soon these orderly blocks began to disintegrate, as after being almost two years from home, many of the men who spotted their loved ones among cheering the crowd could not help but break rank to go greet them.

And this happened at such a large and rapid rate that maintaining discipline proved utterly futile for the officers.

In fact, many of the officers themselves ran out to greet their own wives and children, making the whole effort moot.

And given the extenuating circumstance as well as the festive atmosphere, most of the higher ups decided to ignore this breakdown of discipline for the time being.

It was apparent everyone had truly missed their families and were lonely at home.

Although the unforeseen consequence of this was that the supposed orderly march turned into a large mob, as the surrounding crowd, who had up until now restrained themselves decided to join the streets too, dancing and singing then and there with their loved ones.

The triumph hence turned from an orderly parade to more of a jovial carnival.

And the newly joined mass then began to follow wherever Alexander seemed to lead them, which was in a tour around the entire city.

After the first part of the triumph- the loots, the slaves and the Tibian nobles had their time in front of the crowd, they were taken to already prepared designated spots to be carefully 'stored', hence leaving Alexander the lead of the show.

And so he decided to lead the overflowing crowd first through the main streets of the northern district, which was beginning to turn itself into an large entertainment hub, with various restaurants, inns, hotels, and nightlife facilities already being established.

Alexander was a bit surprised by the amount of new buildings and shops already present before him, with many more seemingly being under construction, even noticing a large, open air amphitheater to be in the making.

The extent of the city's development in just two years had exceeded his expectations.

And it was a sight that brought him quite a bit of joy as he could feel the prosperity being generated here even when the day was a holiday, and most of the shops and establishments were closed.

The outer countenance of the buildings said it all.

Following the main artery of the northern distinct led the crowd to the central part of the city, but he decided to not enter the central part of the city yet, saving it for the last.

Instead, Alexander took a right turn towards the western district, which was also the primarily residential district.

There as he passed through the immaculately paved streets, he noticed many of the scheduled buildings had been already finished, while many more were under construction.

Many of the large aqueducts were seen to be in various stages of completion, while a few of the smaller ones were already under operation.

Through the western district artery, Alexander and the procession slowly snaked their way uphill, until they came to a place known as the Placentine Hill.

This was the most prestigious area of Zanzan, reserved exclusively for the ultra rich and nobility.

Which was perhaps best exemplified by the fact that there were no large apartment sized blocks here like the plebs' abode.

But instead composed of only large, sprawling villas and mansions, all gazing into the boundless Cisran Hills.

And this was also where most of the nobility currently were, gathering around their windows, balconies, and verandas to watch the incoming procession.

For you see, only a scant handful of noblemen and ladies had actually gone to the northern gates to see Alexander in his full glory.

Most chose not to since they found the mere idea of having to rub shoulders with lowly commoners retching.

Thus instead, they waited for Alexander to come to them, sitting on their high laurels imperiously and viewing the entire thing from the comfort of their homes.

It was an act that had naturally quite irked Alexander when he was first told of the intentions, thinking to himself with rage and frustration,

'Here I am sweating and cooking myself under the sun for hours on end and you do not even have the courtesy to show up? Not only that, you want me to come to you! Who is the pasha here, you or me?'

But he also knew this was the norm of the times.

Nobles did not like mixing with the dirty plebs, and the commoners also did not like having such high ranking members amidst their midst, for they shrunk and shrieked away from them in fear.

Thus forcefully asking the nobles to take part in Alexander's celebrations was not realistic.

You could not force people to 'have fun'.

There were also many nobles currently in the city that did not live in Zanzan but came from quite a bit away just to see Alexander and even a few from Amenheraft's camp attending in secret with the mind to switch their sides.

Antagonizing them due to such a small event would be foolish.

Hence, Alexander ultimately designed the triumph as such, bringing the magnificence of his victory to them.

Although not without a small punishment.

For the nobles were denied the showcase of all the loot that Alexander had captured, with the excuse being given to them that such huge, slow moving carts would delay the procession too much, and the event would have to last literal days before they were finished.

And here, for once Alexander was not exaggerating.

The actual Roman triumphs sometimes did take two to three days to finish because the heavy, goods laden carts took that long to make their way through the eternal city.

But because the logistics of such an event would be momentarily challenging, Alexander decided to cut the part short, saying to himself,

'Perhaps in the next triumphs, once we get more experience.'

This was also the reason, a few of the nobles actually bothered to show up at the gates.

After the nobles got to witness the edited version of the procession, Alexander then turned around and started to head towards the southern district, where the port as well as a large part of the markets were.

The air here was significantly salty and as Alexander rode his chariot, like in the northern district, far more shops, buildings and inns came into view, many built so close that they seemed to be one gigantic structure all on its own.

Here was also the industrial center of some of Zanzan's most iconic products, such as the cement kilns and many, many iron workshops.

Alexander noticed many of the grounds here too had been expanded.

So with that place toured, Alexander then entered the penultimate district- the eastern district.

Here was much the same, except that its main attraction was the army barracks.

So with there being little to see, and the sun already close to setting, Alexander quickly turned around and at last made it to the central district, which was also the heart of the city.

Here resided all the various administrative buildings responsible for running not only the city but the entire fief, overseeing everything from taxation and law and order, to even garbage disposable.

There was also the parliament building and the thing that Alexander was most here for the temples.

It was here that resided the biggest temple dedicated to the Goddess Gaia in perhaps all the nearby lands, and Alexander was here to seek His Mother's blessing.

Theocles was already waiting for him when Alexander arrived, on a large, outdoors white marbled altar built for just this occasion.

At his feet lay on their sides a white bull and a black cow, all four limbs tied up.

They were to be sacrificed.

And so that was how the triumph finally came to an end.

With Alexander raising his blade and swearing,

"Oh, great mother Gaia. It is only through your hands that I was able to achieve this greatness. Please accept your son's humble offerings and bless up with more of your favors!"

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