Herald of Steel

Alexander's little scheme was very simple.

Produce enough smoke to draw everyone's attention there to keep the eyes from the real fire.

All the threats and information gathering he claimed were true, but the real thing he was after was a kind of permission from the priests to take their riches legally.

This was for him to have a way to retort when they would inevitably claim Alexander sacked the Temple of Ramuh, the most sacred place in Adhania.

Of course, there were plenty of holes in Alexander's claims that any decent orator would be able to point out.

Like how he made them do it under duress, how they gifted him with only a handful of coins, or how they never expressly said anything.

But Alexander was not interested in building a rock-solid argument.

He was only interested in an excuse.

And for that, this 'symbolic' gesture was adequate.

But Azira and Azura didn't seem to think so.

They looked as if their soul had been sucked out of their body as they blankly stared up, looking at the fresco of Ramuh that decorated the interior of the ceiling, almost like asking him to take them up to the heavens to be judged.

Alexander feared whether these two would be alright!

Alexander turned his attention to the priest who similarly had wooden or spacy looks and decided to break them out of their stupor by ordering them to help with the looting.

With the first stone thrown, these people saw no point in resisting and decided to obediently obey.

"Get the horses to help carry the loot and dump it on the courtyard." He ordered.

Then he split up his forces more, "Two hundred of stay here and loot. The other six hundred go to the nearby houses to get food. Say it's King Ptolomy's orders," He commanded which drew an ear-splitting cheer from the men.

None of them were stupid enough not to understand what Alexander meant by either of those orders.

Alexander had a poker face as he assigned many men and women to a cruel fate, as he instructed Azura and Azira to follow him, who did it in a mechanical, puppet-like way, both of them having lost all will to oppose Alexander.

As Alexander made his way into the courtyard, he was pleasantly surprised to see that his main force had also arrived, led by Menicus with Ptolomy beside him.

"Congratulations on becoming king, Ptolomy," Alexander boisterously laughed as he strode forward to greet the thin, gaunt man on the horse.

But instead of reciprocating the gesture, Ptolomy seemed very angry with Alexander and shouted, "Alexander, what are your soldiers doing? Tell them to stop this immediately!"

Alexander was thrown a bit back at the harsh tone of the voice and after Alexander's translated it for him, Alexander pointed his right hand to Ptolomy and then turned to his translator, "Ask him what he is so angry about. I got him the city so what's with the attitude?"

"You want to know what I'm angry about? Your soldiers have ransacked both the palace and the temple! The palace and the temple, you barbaric brute!" Ptolomy spat out masses of saliva from atop his horse onto Alexander's face below.

Ptolomy's little tirade drew very displeased looks from the soldiers around him as none of them liked seeing their commander getting berated even after accomplishing virtually the impossible task.

Some blind followers like Menes and Camius could be even seen putting their hands on their sword buckles as if contemplating whether to cut this blathering fool down.

Alexander too felt his temper rise.

He had woken up at the crack of dawn, worked the whole day, pulled an all-nighter to plan for a war, directed the war, won the war, had a heart-pounding, nail-biting chase with the fleeing king, invaded a city, planned and carried out the capture of a city and at last robbed the city's greatest reserve of treasure.

So, one might forgive Alexander for wanting at least a pat on the back for a job well done.

But instead of his hard work being appreciated, this blathering fool was castigating him in front of all his troops and acting as if he was already king.

The cranky Alexander hence decided to do something about it.

"Get this fool off his horse," Alexander commanded the soldiers, and Ptolomy in spite of his protest of, "You! What are you doing? Unhand me or I will have you executed!" was swiftly made to stand in Alexander at equal ground level.

Alexander's blue eyes penetrated the black, hazy, shaking eyes of Ptolomy, fear surfacing on his fear and quivering lip and Alexander sighed in his mind, 'This guy is no good.'

Compared to Amenheraft's calm, deep gaze that looked steady and unmoving even in times of mortal danger, this fool was shaking like a leaf in a storm in front of him.

"You…yo..what.." Ptolomy stammered and moved his eyes away to break eye contact.

It was right that moment that Alexander clenched his fist, twisted his hips as he firmly placed his legs on the ground, and bought up his right, armored hand squarely on the lower jaw of the, landing an uppercut so hard that it knocked Ptolomy off the ground, making him fly in the air in a smooth arch as he then landed on the pristine marble floor with a dull thud.

His eyes went all white and a white foam, mixed with tinges of red started flowing out of his mouth as he was knocked out cold.

"Your Majesty!"

"You..what are you doing?"

"*Clang*"

Furious roars burst out of the retinue following Ptolomy, as they were appalled by the sight of their king being hit in the face like that, and some of the more hot-headed ones even drew their swords, wanting to charge up to Alexander and cut him down.

Alexander chuckled at this show of bravado, and darkly warned, "Your king is still alive. Touch a hair on my body and every man, woman, and child in this city will not be."

The reality of their and their subjects' fate squarely lying in the hands of these extrinsic mercenaries bought Ptolomy's entourage back to earth and the more leveled-headed ones quickly shouted, "Fools! Sheath your swords. You want our king to die?"

Alexander then pointed to the man lying sprawled like an eagle and addressed the fifteen in front of him, "Tell me, why do you support this fool?"

"The fool cannot realize the simple reality that I have twelve thousand men at my fingertips and he has got zilch. Yet he dares to act like a king in front of me, berating and insulting me in front of my soldiers? Is this the kind of liege you guys follow?"

Alexander's acquisition drew some shamed and flushed faces as many turned their head and avoided looking Alexander directly in the eye.

But an old man, Alexander presumed he must have some close relation with Ptolomy from his birth attempted to defend his king. "Esteemed commander, King Ptolomy was just expressing his objection at the atrocities the soldiers are committing in the city. Worse they are chanting 'By King Ptolomy's orders' claiming it was you who told them to do so."

'Haha, good. Those guys are doing mighty well!' Alexander chuckled ominously at the 'good' news in his mind.

But outside he put on a façade of indignation, "Whatever complaints he may have, is this how to greet a general that has captured the greatest city in the world? Is this how Adhania rewards success? With insults and beratement for its commands and the brave soldiers that died for them?"

This passionate cry drew even deeper scowls on the foreheads of the soldiers as they felt their efforts were being so thoroughly trampled on.

The experienced old man certainly felt the anger of the people around him, as he had an imaginary feeling of his surroundings getting hotter and quickly spoke up to shield Ptolemy, "No, no, esteemed commander, we do not mean any disrespect! For getting us back our city we owe you a debt that can never be repaid. In gratitude for getting our city back, please accept this bow from this small man."

He then performed an immaculate bow reserved only for nobles and royals.

'Hmm, so this is Ptolomy's ass wiper," Alexander identified the man who likely took care of and managed the idiot's messes.

The old man was not however content to just take Alexander's infraction laying down as he asked, "But commander, what do you say about the soldiers' claims that you told them to ****, kill and plunder while chanting 'By King Ptolomy's orders?"

His voice was sharp and pointed.

But Alexander only chuckled in his heart, 'Hehe, they are right!"

On the outside, he explained, "I entered the city with only fifteen hundred horsemen who rapidly dispersed themselves to chase the fleeing enemy, Of course, they are gonna shout. 'By King Ptolomy's orders' as they struck them down. Didn't King Ptolomy want these enemies killed? Didn't King Ptolomy order the destruction of all enemy forces? What were the soldiers supposed to chant, 'By Commander Alexander's orders'? That would make me a usurper!"

Then he addressed the atrocities, "And if any soldier told you that I ordered them to commit such any atrocities they are lying. Simply using my name to commit vile acts of filth to fulfill their own animalistic desires and escape justice. Bring anyone who commits such crimes to me and he will be judged according to military law."

Alexander's eloquence stunned the crowd as the old man sighed spookily in his heart.

'He's a tough cookie,' The aged man commented.

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