Herald of Steel

Alexander had spent the whole day in the streets with the soldiers, personally overseeing the set up of the various checkpoints as well as noting down the terrain in his head, such as the various connecting streets and where they led to, the notable landmarks in the area as well as the shortcuts if available.

This was done both to ensure his legionnaires did not miss any hidden passageways from where the Heaat family might be able to outflank them, as well as a contingency for Alexander, just in case he needed to make a quick getaway in the event of extreme unforeseen circumstances.

During this time, as afternoon rolled in, various maids and servants sent by Lady Miranda came to find him several times, inviting him to join their mistress for a meal inside the house.

However Alexander politely but firmly rejected them every time, excusing himself with the claim that he was busy preparing the defense of the mansion and it was this that took all priority.

Which was indeed true.

But it was also a way of him protesting against the other side's lukewarm response.

And Lady Miranda certainly understood that, which was why after a few failed attempts, she had the food be sent to him, which consisted of bread, roasted duck, shredded pork, boiled and salted eggs, among ten more different items, all accompanied by fine wine.

The menu was certainly luxurious enough to be called a feast and was at best eaten once a month even by the extravagant MV.

Seeing the grand line, Alexander's anger somewhat soothed as he understood this was Lady Miranda's way of apologizing.

Thus Alexander partook in the meal that served as both his breakfast and lunch, even sharing some of it with the men.

And he stayed with them until nightfall, making sure the defenses and deployment were as robust as possible.

After which Alexander even spent some drinking with the men in their tents and reassuring the outnumbered troops that he was with them and everything would be alright, thus boosting morale.

Due to all this, by the time he returned to the mansion, the night had already entered its second phase, shrouding the whole city in its pitch black curtain, with nary a light from the sky coming down as dense winter clouds concealed the heavens from the earth.

And by the time Alexander had finished his supper all alone in his study, it was so late enough that most had already retreated to their beds, as they were no longer able to stay awake.

Most had woken up at dawn and they all stuck very true to the phrase, 'early to bed, early to rise.'

Hence none of the people were able to keep their eyes open such late into the night, for they felt like a pair of elephants were standing on their eyelids.

A situation made all the worse by the fact due to the hecticness and calamities faced today, most did not get their usual afternoon nap, making them even more susceptible to the lull of the lullaby.

All this meant that it was already too late for Alexander to hold the conference that he planned to have with the lady of the house to let her in on the latest developments.

So instead, having developed some of the characteristics of a fully fledged night owl in his previous life, a habit that stuck with him even after 15 years of coming here, Alexander decided forcefully push back his drowsiness and power on to write a letter to his wife Cambyses, detailing his predicament and asking her to send reinforcements.

And the quoted number- '10,000' was due to a variety of reasons.

The most significant of which was that Alexander was on a time crunch and this was the number of soldiers he knew he had readily available.

Any more and Cambyses would have to start a draft which would not only take a lot of time but would also be politically very adhored.

The people of Zanzan had been in almost constant warfare since Alexander had taken office and although his victories had managed to assuage all such bitterness by the liberal application of abundant loot and booty from these endeavors, Alexander knew he should not push his luck.

Any more than 10,000 and he would have to start worrying about the risk of jeopardizing his land's safety.

Because although things looked tranquil in Zanzan at the moment, it would be fatal to declare that all was well underneath.

There were many unsavory laying dormant in Zanzan, with small whispers and murmurs of alarming concerns already beginning to filter into Alexander's ears even back when he was there in Zanzan, courtesy of his spymaster Camius.

The most pressing of which was the ever developing friction between Lord Theony and Crown Prince Philips, on various material and immaterial things.

The situation there had not yet developed to be grave enough for Alexander to intervene, but still, he knew he needed to keep a large stick at hand to deter any of the many rebellious elements from stirring the pot in his absence.

Hence the most amount of troops that Alexander guessed he could siphon from his capital would be 10,000.

The way he came to this conclusion was by recalling the fact that just before leaving his province, he had issued a decree stating the standing force was to be increased to a strength of 30,000 by the end of winter this year.

So if that went all good and well, then even with the gross 15,000 that would end up with Alexander, there would still be a standing force of 15,000 in Zanzan.

Not to mention there were also Alexander's 5,000 hidden men.

So with 20,000 men on standby, Alexander felt they should be more than sufficient to deter any large scale aggression or rebellion from sprouting up in his territories.

Secondly, the number of ships Alexander had at Zanzan would be at best enough to transport this amount of people.

So even if he wanted Cambyses to send more, she would not be able to unless she gathered enough vessels from elsewhere, such as asking Lady Inayah to contribute or have them forcefully 'requisitioned' from the nearby merchants.

But this action ran into the same problem as the first option had, the former option would again take too long, while the latter would be too politically unpalatable.

Merchants abhorred having their ships, which was the heart of their livelihood being seized, especially to be used in a war.

The third reason behind Alexander's decision to ask for 10,000 men was due to the fact that although Lord Parker had 22,000 men, it had to be remembered that half of them were from the MV.

And Alexander was hopeful that in a hot conflict, they would choose to stay neutral, letting the other two bite each other to death.

After all, the MV were technically still not Alexander's enemies.

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Heck, the man was even bold enough to muse to himself on whether he should use the 50 million ropals he had with him to bribe the other side to join him.

'I should bring the topic up with Lady Miranda. With proper negotiation, it is not possible to bait them to switch sides.' Alexander noted, although even he himself was unsure if this was him being very cunning, simply overly optimistic, or just desperate, like a drowning man clutching at straws.

Whichever it was, Alexander decided to try it anyway, as he then sent two copies of the same letter to Cambyses, a very succinct version one via messenger bird and a long one via a small boat.

The Pasha did not envy the messenger who would have to brave the perilous sea during the winter months to deliver this letter, even half expecting the man not to make it.

The waters had been quite choppy even during Alexander's time- something that was bound to have gotten only worse with the passage of days.

And this would indeed be the case, as although the messenger would reach Cambyses on time, the time needed to prepare the men and the necessary supplies would make the waters turn too dangerous to allow any subsequent voyage, at least for the rest of winter.

Thus whatever reinforcements Alexander might have been hoping, they were going to be only due by spring at the earliest.

For now though, he was on his own.

Alexander of course currently remained unaware of the delay and his perilous state.

Instead, having finished for the day, he returned from his study to his bedroom, only to find that it was not empty, but had Lady Nanazin sitting on the bed with her legs folded, wearing a sheer, sexy nightie, something that left no one in confusion why she was here.

However, the lady did not seem currently awake, but her head was hung low, almost drooping.

It was clear that after diligently waiting for hours for Alexander to return, she had fallen asleep in that state.

Something that both hurt and delighted Alexander.

Hurt because he had unknowingly kept the lovely lady waiting for so long.

Delighted that he had the ability to keep such a lovely lady waiting for so long.

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