Herald of Steel

861 The King's Negotiation

Alexander could sense the slight dissatisfaction the man had felt about him refusing his marriage offer.

So in return, Alexander then attempted to marry one of his retainer's daughters to Lord Theony's newly made legitimate son Gnaeus.

But the Tibian lord had found those people's status to be either too low, like Menes, Melodias, etc. who were all mercenaries and common people, or too distant to Alexander, like Lord Tikba, Yuusiq, etc.

Hence later, Alexander came up with a better compromise.

He promised that one of his daughters or even granddaughters could be allowed to be Cambyses's lady in waiting, and if Lord Theony wished, they could also discuss Alexander's son- Philip taking one of Lord Theony's granddaughters as a concubine after the boy grew up a bit.

This promise came as a great joy to Lord Theony, who had been a bit peeved that nobody like Lapitus had managed to get his daughter hitched with Alexander when he could not.

Although that could be said due to Lapitus being bold enough whereas Lord Theony then was not even sure whether Alexander was going to win.

And Alexander might have indeed lost if not for Menes's prudent battle techniques.

Thus the current result was really the most optimum outcome he could have wished for.

With that task out of the way, Alexander then at last turned his attention to the matter of Perseus, as he set about bolstering his army.

To do this, first of all, he made use of all the new nobles swearing their fealty to him, as he asked them each of them to contribute however many men they could to his cause, swelling his numbers.

Individually, each noble's contribution was not much- only around 50 to 100.

This was the most they could spare given all they suffered.

But like how little drops of water join together to form oceans, by siphoning off all that they had, these small packets of men, given by 60 to 70 small and big houses, managed to add up to around 5,000 men!

And when combined with Lord Theony's 4,000 men, and Alexander's original 31,000- the total army added up to 40,000 men, or 5,000 to 8,000 more than Perseus.

This time, Alexander also did not have to place any additional men garrisoning the capital, as he was able to withdraw some of the 3,000 troops garrisoned across various scattered cities, and moved them to the capital

Since the nobles in charge of those cities had already sworn loyalty, Alexander did not see any reason to place them there anymore.

As Alexander was putting the last touches to his army, he then soon got the news that Perseus had at last stopped moving, garrisoning himself at Lilybee- the original port city that Manuk had initially suggested.

And from there he even sent a messenger to Alexander, but it was not either Mithriditus nor Philips.

It was one his Perseus's sons and the conditions he brought were quite generous.

"Lord of Zanzan, the king understands the situation he is in."

"His Majesty is willing to offer the following conditions."

"He will give over half of Tibias to you, Esteemed Pasha."

"He will agree to make Tibias a protectorate of Zanzan, giving you yearly tribute, an amount which can be discussed."

"One of His daughters will be given to you as a mistress."

"And lastly, the Crown Prince Philips will be sent to Zanzan as an envoy for Tibias, attending the senate meetings on behalf of His Majesty and representing the interests of Tibias."

As it could be seen, the concessions were quite generous, especially the one about Philips being sent to Zanzan, which basically was Perseus sending his successor as a hostage, proof of his sincerity towards the proposed treaty.

Alexander was at first surprised that the other side was even aware of the senate representative system that he had started.

Furthermore, the penultimate condition, the one about marrying the princess was not a bad one either as Alexander had indeed seen the two unmarried daughters and both of them were quite nice.

A fact easily explainable if one saw their mother, who was certainly a beauty, a consensus shared by all.

Both the daughters had inherited her best genes.

Up until now, none of them had been touched, even though Lord Theony had openly offered them to Alexander.

And when first presented, Alexander did want to eat the three delicious candies presented to him then and there.

Especially the most mature one who had stood in the middle, her shy face flushed a deep red, her sexy body appearing to drip lasciviousness

He could only describe the woman with that four letter word that started with M.

But he ultimately refrained.

Alexander had felt these gems were much more valuable untouched and only kept them under house arrest, reasoning that if he really wanted to keep them or even just know how they tasted before discarding them, he would have plenty of time to do so after Perseus was defeated and these three had little more uses other than gifts or playthings.

So ultimately the allure of the marriage was not enough to move Alexander.

As for the first two conditions, which should have been the most lucrative, they did not impress Alexander at all, as he haggled,

"I already control half of Tibias. So what is Perseus really giving why saying that?"

"Do I need his permission to administer the lands I have rightfully taken?" He sneered, before waving his hands breezily,

"As for the tribute, given the devastation I have seen Tibias suffering from, clearly Perseus is not a great statesman. How much can he tribute even if he wanted to?"

But these were not the true points of contention between the two sides.

No, what really broke the negotiations would be the last point that Perseus insisted on fulfilling, as his youngest son read out,

"But in exchange for all these concessions, Lord of Zanzan, we want that criminal handed over to us!"

"That criminal who betrayed his country."

"That criminal who betrayed his liege."

"That criminal who killed the future queen of Tibias, daughter of Lord Mithriditus, the daughter in law of the king."

"The traitor Lord Theony!"

The death of Philips's full family had by now gotten out, and it seemed it had managed to travel as far as the further point of Tibias, reaching even Perseus's eyes.

Alexander and Lord Theony of course had given an official statement regarding this unfortunate incident- claiming that it was the lady who was too hasty, she had decided to commit suicide upon simply hearing Lord Theony's takeover of the palace and mistakenly feared the worst case.

According to Alexander everything happened simply due to a misunderstanding.

This was only half true and regardless Perseus did not buy, as he demanded justice for this as a condition for peace.

One because he knew those infants killed were not just his grandchildren but really his children, a fact that made him furious.

Two, and perhaps likely much more importantly, because of how enraged Mithriditus was.

That daughter was his favorite, that was why he had poured his blood and sweat into convincing the king to match her with the Crown Prince.

The old man would even regularly smile in his dreams thinking of seeing his 'princesses' take the seat beside the king's throne, becoming the queen.

So to hear that she had died, and so tragically at that, dying with her son and daughter, it drove the old man nearly mad.

It was even to the point that upon learning of his daughter's fate, but seeing his son in law, Philips not missing even a hair, Mithriditus had not only rebuked him with words unfit for even most slum fights but even started a fistfight, wanting to beat Philips up for not protecting his daughter and grandchildren.

The fight was luckily stopped by a few nearby guards.

After that incident, Mithriditus had made it clear to Perseus, that unless Lord Theony was punished as part of the peace treaty, he would take his men and leave the army and even take a lot of liked minded nobles of his faction with him.

That was a heavy threat to Perseus and thus he had to make that demand.

But when the extradition request for Lord Theony was said aloud,

"Hahaha," The first one to respond was Lord Theony, who had broken out into a burst of uproarious laughter, like he had heard the funniest joke.

And Alexander too replied that such a thing would never be on the table.

Though in secret, he had offered the following counterterms to Perseus-

'Perseus will be required to give up all claims to the throne as well as would all his descendants, transferring them all to Alexander.'

'They would renounce all connections with politics and cut off all ties with any relatives who might be nobles in Tibias.'

'They will be given a proper estate to live in Zanzan, as well as a healthy stipend.'

'In return, Lord Theony would be put under house arrest and barred from participating in politics ever again.'

However these conditions were not acceptable to the other side, and so around late July, Alexander found himself facing Perseus's army.

The ultimate battle to decide the fate of Tibias was about to begin!

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