Herald of Steel

The slave owner was able to spot Alexander's high status from his relaxed demeanor instantly.

In the following days, he was peddling this remarkable slave, very few even dared to approach him after hearing that astronomical price.

Then there was of course the powerful entourage of fully armed guards around him.

So eschewing any beating around the bush, the slaver instantly got to the point, producing an iron badge from his pocket to introduce the enslaved meister, and handing it over to Alexander to verify its authenticity.

It was a solid silver circular disc coated in aqueous blue and engraved with beautiful carvings.

In the middle, a golden inscription read-

'By the power of the Eternal Father of Rain, Thunder and Storm Ramuh,

His Divine Son- His Majesty Ptolomy grants-

Darrus of Adhan, the title of Priest Meister, 001 AY.'

That last number was the man's graduating year, and it was such a convenient number because after Ptolomy took the throne, he had the old calendar scrapped and created a brand new one.

So the current era was only 006 AY, six years into his rule, with AY being an abbreviation for New Adhanian Year. All the previous events were recorded as AR.

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Alexander touched the heavy medal with a slightly curious face, he had rarely seen fine metalwork by the Adhanians.

Then after a time of time, he internally smirked a bit upon reading the text because this thing was supposed to be a certificate for the meister who completed one of the hardest graduations in the known world.

Yet two thirds was filled with singing the king's praises.

Now, this was not to say Ptolomy was a narcissist or anything.

This was just how things went in this time period. In fact, the meisters were probably more thrilled to have the king's name on their 'certificate' than their own.

After all, despite their high status, very few commoners would know of them.

But the king…. well that was different, having the king's name next to oneself was almost the same as being him in many cases.

Alexander played around with the badge for a bit, and ultimately found very little reason to suspect its authenticity.

In fact, he was being overly overcautious here.

Not even a madman would dare to forge an imperial item and then parade it around in one of the main cities of the empire. The punishment for such counterfeiting was very creative and even more horrifying.

Not to mention, such an item was also very easy to verify.

The back of the badge had a unique serial number. And this number and the corresponding information were recorded in the meister books back at the capital.

It would be child's play for Alexander to check.

So handing back the item, the pasha narrowed his eyes and chimed in a cool, crisp voice,

"Hmmm, the badge is certainly authentic but that raises even more questions. You still have not answered what a meister is doing here. And how hasn't he been sold till now? I believe every noble and every merchant from here to Matrak would have their tongue rolling out for him!"

The slave merchant gave a small, thin smile,

"Hehehe, master is right. Indeed, Meister Darrus is even more attractive than a princess. The number of nobles and especially the common merchants who have wanted to have him are… endless. Having a slave meister… hehehe, I admit even I wanted to keep the great master. As for why he is still here unsold to this day…. I believe all this is best answered by the meister himself. Please…."

Following the frank confession, the smartly dressed merchant cordially gestured towards the finely dressed gentleman standing under a shade, at which point the tall man with a very clean ducktail beard and crystal blue eyes, stepped forward and gave a percent noble bow,

"Greetings my lord. My origins are hardly as mysterious as my 'master' suggests. As my badge says, I have been a meister for almost six years, my graduation perfectly coincided with the time His Majesty Amenheraft was dethroned and replaced by the current king. I …."

"His Majesty Amenheraft? The current king? It's His Majesty Ptolomy!" How can a meister be this foolish?

Hearing the man blatantly use such kind of phrases for each of the men, Alexander instinctively interjected with a sharp tone.

Even he did not dare disparage Ptolomy so openly despite his real feelings.

"Where did a small priest like you get the guts to utter such nonsense!" Thus Alexander loudly chimed, although putting more of a show than a rebuke.

It was unknown whether Darrun sensed this or not, but regardless his thin lips curved into a light, gentle smirk despite the scolding,

"Hehehe, my lord has already found my first flaw. I have a hard time holding back my tongue. There was no common merchant who dared to buy me after hearing this, hehehe."

The low, proud chuckle was strangely pleasant to the ears, and it was clear the man intentionally said these words to test Alexander's waters.

Indeed, such a hot potato, few merchants would dare to have it. If the man was only a regular slave, they could of course a myriad of methods to keep him in check.

But as already said earlier, priests were the equivalent, if not greater than nobles in the common people's eyes. If the latter was chosen by the divine, then the former would directly communicate with it.

No sane man would dare to intentionally disrespect or harm a priest, no matter what his social status may be.

But although Darrus was safe from the ire of the general populace, his words would not save him if he landed in the hands of a powerful noble.

Hence, the pasha felt a bit of anger rising in him as he felt getting a bit played, thus gritting out,

"I am surprised you got to even keep your tongue. Did His Majesty not want to have it removed the moment you uttered this blasphemy."

"Hehehe," the handsome man once again pronounced that same, spring chuckle, while undoing some of the knots of his robe.

Once the dress was sufficiently loosed, he slowly turned around and lowered his clothes to show his fair back.

And as they say- a picture tells a thousand words.

The broad fair back was crisscrossed with numerous huge, deep scars, creating various blue and purplish 'tracks' of different lengths and depths based on the type of whip used.

Alexander even recognized some of them- whips with leather barbs were distinctly different from metallic ones. There were barbs also made of hair and even plant thorns. And these were only the most common kind.

Combine this with all the various shapes and sizes available and you had a versatile weapon really capable of delivering any amount of desired pain.

From short stings meant to only last a few minutes, to cutting the skin and making it bleed like a flood, to large gnashes meant to tear flesh, to even whips meant to cause death- one could fine tune this dreadful weapon to one's absolutee heart's desire.

Alexander knew about all of this from his time in the world and watching others getting beaten up.

He himself was rarely beaten, one because he was very competent and rarely made mistakes, and two because he was too precious to risk losing to some kind of infection. The mercenary leader Nestoras has a soft spot for the boy in his own way.

As Alexander himself applying it after being a pasha, well by law thereweres only three uses for it.

One he tolerated- which was for stealing.

Alexander did not condone the severity of the law because he thought the punishment was too broad, applying the same scales to petty crimes such as stealing an apple or a single ropal to highway robbery.

So he was in the process of trying to phase it out, intending to come up with a more robust set of guidelines. It was just that all the campaigns and other military affairs kept his attention too busy to concentrate on such civil reforms.

The other two however he wholeheartedly condoned.

For they were, one- a gross violation of military discipline such as falling asleep during the night watch, a mistake punishable by death in the Roman military.

And two- treason.

Alexander had no intention to change them in any way because these two acts attacked right at the heart of his power.

Which was also why it produced littlesympathyy in him seeing the state of the meister priest's back.

"Hmmmp! Serves you right, play stupid games,and win stupid prizes. What did you think was going to happen?"

Alexander's snigger was replied with that same frank chuckle, as the man robed and turned around.

"Hehehe, indeed my lord is right. But I only said this when we priests were called to swear our allegiance to the new king. Many of my brothers did. But I refused."

"I told the king I had already taken vows for His Majesty Amenheraft in the name of the Storm Father Ramuh. So how could I take a second oath?"

At that point, the man narrowed his eyes into a slit as a sort of amused glint surfaced in them, "I would have been indeed dead right there if not for Pasha Farzah and Head Priest Ollus."

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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