Herald of Steel

The enormous wealth that literally was beneath Alexander's feet was not the result of a single generation but the relentless toil of multiple consecutive ones.

And the enormous wealth that literally was beneath Alexander's feet was not the property of one single individual or an organization or even a family, but the entire savings of multiple generations of the people of Adhan, from the poorest peasants to the richest merchants to the highest nobles.

Alexander estimated the total to be several billion roplas, or several tens of billion tustas!

A sky-shattering amount by any stretch of the imagination

And now it was all his!

Well, at least he wished it was, as Alexander lampooned at his own powerless at being offered quite possibly the greatest known collection of wealth in the current known world but being unable to eat it.

He understood that realistically he would only be able to get a fraction of a fraction of the total amount, both because he had little political capital to hold any large chunk of this hot potato and because he lacked the muscle to protect it.

The men under him were not his but a collection of groups formed under the threat of imminent destruction.

And now that that threat was gone, how many would still obey Alexander?

He didn't know and could not risk stealing such a large amount of wealth without concrete information.

"Imposter, you are not the king!" A young feminine voice suddenly entered Alexander's ear as the vacant hall was quickly occupied by some fifty or so priests and priestesses who entered through the back door that led to the sandy beaches of the Life sea.

This angry, chirpy voice piped Alexander's attention, not because of the sound but because of the language used.

It was Thesian!

So Alexander widen his eyes and immediately spotted the ravishing beauty who had called him out.

She was a stunning young woman- a smooth, goose-egged face with dark arched eyebrows, a delicate nose thin pale lips, and ocean eyes that were simmering and bubbling with rage.

She was tall, almost six feet, with beautiful curves and obsidian skin that made one feel like she was a goddess statue given life

But her most defining features were twice- her silver platinum hair bundled up like floating clouds and that she had an exact clone of herself standing beside her.

They were like identical twin black elves.

And like her sister, the next girl too had the exact expression on her face, making Alexander doubt if he was seeing double.

"Hehe, what gave it away!" Alexander answered in his native tongue, disinclined to keep the charade going any longer as it had served its purpose well.

"Hmph, as if we would be deceived by such a childish trick," The girl next to her, her sister answered the question for her.

"*Snigger*, so where were all this time?" Alexander was surprised by the sudden appearance of these priests.

If they had run away it made no sense for them to return.

And if they were the religious zealots type, then it made no sense why they weren't here to guard the temple in the first place.

"Hmmph, villain, we will never talk," The girl valiantly declared.

"Heh, bold words! I wonder if you spoiled brats ever had a cut in your life. Alexander vulgarly jeered and mocked the girls, as only spoiled brats would dare to say such things in this situation.

This made the girls' anger even sore higher as they swore, "You…you..bad person."

The two sister's naive and sheltered upbringing in the church had resulted in a severe deficiency in their slang vocabulary and caused an eruption of laughter to roll out of Alexander's men as some even vulgarly whistled at the fresh, cute girls.

Even Alexander found these angry little bundles of pepper endearing.

Alexander then barked, "You old coots, why are you hiding behind two girls? Has cowardice eaten your balls?"

This great roar caused a bit of movement in the gathered crowd, as a simple, dirty tunic wearing old man with unsteady steps stepped in front of the girls.

"Grandpa," The girls happily chirped.

This old priest looked at Alexander and spoke with a thick, accented Thesosian, "Esteemed leader, this temple is a sacred place of worship and the dwelling of the gods. You have already spilled blood on these hallowed grounds. Do not further your sins any longer. Leave or be forever cursed."

The wizened, shaky voice had a kind of gruff echoing effect as his words sounded more like a prophecy rather than a statement.

But Alexander was ready with his counter, "Our goddess Gaia and your god Ramuh has fought a divine battle, evidenced by the rain the past two days. And today, by showing the clear sky, the goddess has shown herself as the victor. And thus your god Ramuh's temple, his home belongs to us, the followers of goddess Gaia."

"Balderdash!" The old man suddenly went out of character and shouted out, utterly livid by Alexander's bullshit, his ethereal, wizened voice shattered to a crass, grinding tone.

"That's right! You are lying," The two girls too shouted and nodded in unison, shaking their tiny, clenched fists in a synchronized motion that made Alexander doubt if they had choreographed this.

'These two twins are quite cute- fresh, lovely, and innocent, like a flower that has just bloomed in the morning.' Alexander's heart fluttered as he flirted at the idea of making these girls for his own.

'After all, why let them waste away in this dump when they could be with me, warming my bed,' Alexander joked in his heart.

"Heh, you guys make for sore losers." Alexander gave a pointed smirk, "Isn't the very fact, me- a Cantagenan is standing where no other from my city-state had ever done before proof enough of my claim? What kind of a god do you worship that can't even protect his own home from intruders?... Unless …he was injured." Alexander deliberately said the last line in a long drawn-out way, giving the people there the time to think.

And it worked as Alexander could see the religious zeal that burned zealously in many's eyes just a moment ago be replaced with fear and uncertainty.

'Could it be true?' Many started asking themselves as they struggled to find an explanation for how both the outer and inner city walls could have been breached.

Their pillars of faith were faltering!

Well almost all of them, as the two sisters still glared at Alexander unblinking and with unmatched hostility which only made Alexander find these two silver-haired sables even cuter.

This claim also made many makes guess about the man in the golden suit.

"Who are you?" The old priest asked in a voice equally mixed with curiosity and fear.

"Heh, who do you think I am? I know you know." Alexander returned the question with a mysterious smirk and then stared profoundly at the old priest, who then started changing color every few moments, from flushed red, to pale white, to a dark frown, to sunny radiant.

It was as if the old man's face had been turned into a canvas by Alexander and he could paint on it using his gaze.

Alexander had deliberately given a vague answer and let the opponent's imagination come up with their own wild and imaginative conclusions, letting them conjure things Alexander might never be able to even imagine as viable answers.

"You,,,you..are," The priest seemed to be shaking in fear, only him privy to the actual conclusion his mind had made up as Alexander only smiled and nodded.

"Grandpa, don't tell me, he's…" Seeing their father figure so distraught, the twins who also had an active imagination were stimulated to make up their own stories, while Alexander just chuckled in his heart, 'Too easy! Nothing can dream up gods and demons better than a good imagination.'

But Alexander was on a time budget and he had other places to conquer, loot and burn.

So he stated, "I'm in a bit of a time crunch, so I will be brief, 'We have taken considerable risks and losses to be here. And we have already killed in a god's temple. So realistically, there is no way we are gonna go back empty-handed."

"But this is a temple, a…" The old priest shouted at the suggested mention of the blasphemous act.

But Alexander cut off by raising his palm and saying harshly, "Shut your trap old man! I'm not done."

Then in a mercurial twist of tone, his voice turned into a friendly saccharine one, "In the interest of saving both our times, I will offer you two choices," Alexander then made a 'V' sign to show the number two.

Then he closed this sign and raised only his index finger,

"One- We take the coins, the carpets, the curtains, the golden utensils, and chandeliers. Basically, anything that's not nailed down. But we leave the golden statue intact. And in exchange, you tell us where you guys just came from." Alexander was very interested in this information.

Then he raised his middle finger and continued,

"Or two- You don't tell us where you guys just came from. And we take the coins, the carpets, the curtains, the golden utensils, the chandeliers, etc, etc, anyway. But we also take your beloved statue. And because you defied us, we make an example out of you. The women are raped and killed by my men and as for the priests, hehe, we will have our horses have fun with your assholes."

Alexander gave a horrifying picture of their fate if they were to defy him.

And so not the horror is not diluted by the language difference, he made the entire speech be also said out loud in Azhak.

And he finished the offer by saying, "You do not have the right to bargain or change any of the conditions. You can only say, 'We agree' or 'We do not agree'. You have one minute to decide. If you cannot decide within this time, I will take it as you don't agree"

"Now choose and choose wisely."

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