Herald of Steel



If Lord Ponticus was asked to answer truthfully whether he really believed they could hold on for two months, he would have answered- 'Unlikely'.

He had far exaggerated the problems facing Alexander and knew the enemy might be ready to launch a full fledged attack before the end of next month.

This accelerated pace even surprised Alexander himself as he was able to make far quicker progress on the siege than he had originally thought.

The walls were built quicker, the ditch was filled faster and Tibias's resistance seemed far smaller than originally anticipated, possibly due to the effective use of his artillery.

And thus, Lord Ponticus could only urge Lapitus to not panic and train the men as quickly as possible.

While Alexander prepared himself with baited anticipation for the last phase of his plan to begin- the actual attack on the city.

As Alexander waited, the lord of Zanzan also received a very special letter from Zanzan.

It was from Cambyses and it was good news.

Very good news.

It informed him that both Ophenia and Mean had successful deliveries and that he had two more children - a girl for Ophenia, and a boy for Mean.

This put a smile on Alexander's face for the rest of the day.

He had originally promised to be there during their births but found it difficult to make the time.

The siege was progressing much better than he had expected and the things he thought would have been possible only in the fifth or even sixth month of the campaign were about to occur imminently.

It would be unwise to have a change in command at this critical moment.

Thus he wrote back a passage of hearty congratulations, as well as informing them of the progress of the siege, and then promising to return very soon.

And while he was writing it, he even regretted a tiny, tiny bit that the siege was not a tad bit later.

Because up until very recently, he had mostly spent his time idly in the camp.

In the morning he would stay in his tent listening to the daily reports regarding the war and giving orders as needed.

Then he would take a stroll to the administrative building to have a chat with the men running the whole show, listening to how everything was running.

After that came lunch at around midday, following which he could either tour the barracks or if he was feeling like it, go visit the frontlines which was a few kilometers from his main camp.

There he would meet the soldiers and personally talk to the officers, boosting morale.

And lastly, just around dusk, he would take a visit to the camp clinic to visit and say soothing words to the injured men.

Of course, this final part was done not out of total altruism, but as a way to boost his image among the soldiers and make himself present himself as a man of the people.

After all, how many common soldiers could have ever imagined having a noble ask of their well-being like Alexander was doing?

And that was it for a typical day for Alexander. 

And as it could be seen from his schedule, Alexander mostly spent his time just looking after things rather than doing anything.

He was not even 'doing' any girl like many of the nobles, who many times took the more beautiful working girls offering their services to bed.

Sometimes they even took the regular women working there.

Not by force of course.

They did not need to, as most peasant women were more than happy to lay with a noble.

They were usually offered quite some coin and if they could get really, really, lucky to earn one of their favor, they might even have their fortunes completely reversed.

So why would they refuse?

It was also because of that greed many such flies would regularly buzz around Alexander, him being without a doubt the juiciest target in there, as he was both the highest ranking noble and one of the youngest.

A more perfect candidate to latch oneself onto simply did not exist.

Not here, perhaps not even in the whole of Adhania.

Though of course, even as they tried, they were bound to be disappointed.

For no other simple fact than Alexander did not like doing that during campaigns.

He thought it distracted him and felt such pleasures should be reserved for after the war.

And though not a military law, he also tried his other officers to follow the same, though up until now it seemed to have given little result. 

So for now Alexander spent the following days with a pleased heart over the birth of his new children while waiting patiently for the day he could launch his attack on the walls.

As for the opposing side, well Lord Ponticus's messenger, by switching horses multiple times, rode without rest to reach the Tibian capital as quickly as possible.

And when he delivered the note, it did start quite a significant commotion in the courts.

"...is…is it real? Did Lord Ponticus really write this?"

"Impossible! How…can this be?" 

"What is he doing! How did he allow things to turn so dire!"

"20,000 men! Ridiculous! What are we… magicians? We don't have so many!" 

All such surprised exclamations of disbelief and incredulation were uttered by the nobles present there, with some even criticizing the man, though the latter were really in the minority as Lord Ponticus's military career really left very few people doubting his competency.

So most understood that things must have turned pretty bad. 

As for the man to whom this letter was addressed, the one sitting on the throne, Perseus read and re-read the parchment over and over again.

Lord Ponticus had been quite detailed in his recount of how the enemy had pushed him to such dire straits, and as Perseus read it, a part of him could not help but feel very impressed by all of it.

But impressed or not, the fact still remained that his youngest uncle needed reinforcement.

"How many men can we muster by the month?" Hence putting down the parchment, Perseus very directly posed.

"....." And it was followed by a long silence.

Every single noble knew how much they could contribute, but no one knew the total.

At least not at the top of their head.

Also after their large loss from two years ago, many nobles were reluctant to give out their precious men, much preferring to hoard it for themselves.

Thus they opted to remain silent.

Until one noble betrayed the collective.

"Your Majesty! My family can give five thousand!" The man stepped forward to loudly claim, the large 'donation' instantly causing no small upheaval in the court.

Five thousand might not sound like a lot, but in Tibias's context, it very definitely was.

It was equivalent to an entire legion.

But who was this man capable of single handedly offering so much?

Well he was Lord Theony- a very prominent member of Tibian nobility and the father of Theony, who was the king's adjutant.

Also, yes, Theony's (the king's adjutant) father was also called Theony, with the only distinction between the two being the prefix 'lord' added to the senior man.

"Mmm, very good. Lord Theony is truly one of a kind, a true son of Tibias." Hearing the very large donation, Perseus was naturally very pleased.

Though it would also have to be pointed out that the reason Lord Theony had done this was also as a way to buy more power in the court, as after Leosydas's death, there was a power struggle currently going on over who would get to take over the former's responsibilities.

But regardless of Lord Theony's interests, he did promise such a large number of troops, and this of course caused Perseus to break out a smile.

"Me too! I too can get five thousand men." 

And as soon as Perseus finished praising Lord Theony, Mithriditus from the side too loudly claimed this, though it sounded a bit forced, as evidenced by his slightly clenched fists and clenched teeth.

Because for him, sparing five thousand young, good, working men would be pushing his limit.

But he promised nevertheless.

Because remember the current power struggle regarding taking over Leosydas's influence?

Well he was one of the big players there and his biggest rival was, as you could have guessed it, Lord Theony.

And how could he let his rival get one step ahead?

So even though Mithriditus's family was not as rich as Lord Theony's, he bit the bullet and matched him anyway.

"Excellent! Here is another true son of Tibias, haha" And the moment Mithriditus declared such, Perseus immediately loudly praised, as his mouth could not help but form a knowing smile.

Perseus had certainly acted as he had calculatively, pitting one man against the other to extract the maximum benefit from both of them.

And as evidenced it had worked out fantastically.

Then to squeeze out even more of the juice, he immediately declared, "Good! Then I will count on both of you to get all the men ready as soon as possible."

"Though Uncle did not say it expressively, I believe he is in a lot more trouble than he's letting on."

"He is just too proud to say."

"So I want you to be ready by the end of this month."

Perseus casually set the timeline.

'Didn't the letter say Lord Ponticus could hold on for two months! Why do we get only one?' While both men shouted so in their hearts.

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