Herald of Steel

Once the matter of the flood was taken care of and the matter done and settled, Alexander found himself with a ten million ropals hole in his pocket.

And that was just from the aid relief. The food, medicine, and monetary rewards all added up quickly.

And the number of expenses reached tens if not a hundred million ropals more if all the damages and lost crops were taken into account- such as the reconstruction of many of the city's infrastructure, rebuilding collapsed buildings, the time wasted in removing the water from the mines and other underground projects and of course all the loss of many materials.

For instance, much of the grain stored in the granaries had been affected by the flood, submerging about half of them for days in the filthy water.

Thus as soon as the water receded, Alexander ordered the damp seeds to be dried immediately before they could start to germinate.

To speed up the process even more, instead of using just the sun, he even had the workers use massive coal fired bonfires to drive out the moisture before the slightly off grain was ground into millet using the city's huge wind and watermills and sent out as relief aid to the affected areas or opened to the market at a reduced price, thus minimizing his loss.

As for future proofing against such instances, Alexander even made plans for a series of brand new granaries and other storehouses to be built on top of the Cisran hills, thus making sure the water level could never rise up to that level.

…..

However, although Alexander would be able to make preparations with such instances, he was unable to think of any effective way to reduce his losses on the field.

Many hectares of fields full of grains and other crops lay waste, rotting and bug-eaten beyond any reasonable salvation.

Those that could be extracted would at best become animal feed, but the majority simply had to be thrown away, becoming fertilizer for the next rotation.

And as Alexander witnessed such acts when touring the affected areas, what stung him the most was seeing this happen to his precious beetroots.

Once converted into white sugar, this crop was almost as valuable as its weight in gold.

But what could he do… this was one of the great disadvantages of being an agrarian economy.

A lot of the time, your livelihood was dependent on the whims of the gods.

Hence for now he only attempted to minimize the suffering and make up for the loss with imports from other provinces.

And in this instance, Lady Parthia's advice had worked wonders, with both Lord Theony and the former Crown Prince Philips promising aid imminently.

They saw this as a way to curry favor with their new, powerful lord, so they quickly reinforced Zanzan with a few ships of all kinds of produce.

Hence although the flood and typhoon did a number on Zanzan and its surroundings, due to the storm's relatively small size and Alexander's swift and luxurious response, much of the damage was contained and soothed over.

However in exchange for all such great service, Alexander thought he had earned relatively limited political capital.

Although the people were grateful for this aid, there did not seem to be too great a shift in their attitude.

This was probably because with all the jobs and new products, Alexander had brought to them, the people were already plenty happy.

He seemed to have reached a 'point of diminishing return' with his people, making further investments inefficient.

"*Sigh*.... well whatever, what is done is done. They are after all my people…. I should try to make their lives at least a bit better." But Alexander chose to close the subject as such, simply accepting this cost as the price of governance.

…..

While the matter of the flood was still being taken of, his schedule with the pirate captain Vidiyan came due and upon receiving news of the man docking at the harbor, Alexander scheduled to meet in his personal study a few days later.

"Ahhh… Captain, welcome, welcome." He invited with a smile, while the pirate captain sat to the opposite with slight trepidation, greeting him through that huge, thick bush of immaculate hair,

"Apologies for the delay, my lord. The weather at sea… really held us back,"

Alexander thought he detected a hint of genuine worry as the man gave a rueful smile, as if he was afraid of ticking off his new employer.

This was probably because the pirate captain really had no other rope to hold onto at the moment.

"No, no, it's quite alright. The typhoon also did a number of us. We are still sorting through it. You could not have entered the harbor recently even if you wanted to," While Alexander did not wish to make things more difficult for the man and simply brushed aside the slight setback.

Then, arranging the housemaids to prepare a round of drinks and making some insignificant small talk, quickly got down to business.

The conversation between the two men was a succinct one- as Alexander only needed to finalize the deals they had already discussed.

So taking out a stack of already prepared papers, he chimed,

"Well Captain Vidiyan, I am sure your crew is getting quite anxious over not having a secure port yet. So as discussed before, this is what I propose."

"You and your crew will work mostly around the routes my ships take. You will need not protect them… the ships can do that themselves. Your main job should be to deter and, if needed even hunt down other pirates who wish to plunder me."

The reason Alexander did not directly give Vidiyan the task of protecting his ships was because he was afraid it would be like asking the fox to guard the chickens.

The man was still a bona fide pirate, and it was very reasonable for Alexander to fear what would happen to his profits if the man was given to guard such a lucrative commodity.

Perhaps Vidiyan might not rob him blind outright, but conspiring against the various ships' captains and skimming a significant amount off the top would certainly be on the list.

That is why Alexander also said the ships had the capability to defend themselves, indicating he only needed the most ferocious predators to be put down- the rest, his men could handle by themselves.

So saying this, he then continued,

"There are really three main routes you need to secure- they all start from here, and one goes to Midshire in Galiosos, one to Matrak north of here, and the other to the various city states of Thesos, mainly Cantagena, but also a few others."

"Since they are all trading powers of their own, I do not believe there are too many pirates around there anyway, they should have been already cut down by the local forces. At least we have not had many problems with them till now."

"But still, I want you to keep an eye out, and put down any such attempts before they can grow. Alright?"

Chiming this, Alexander subtly paused, giving the pirate captain a chance to say anything he wished.

"Yes, no problem!" And the eager captain replied quickly, with confident eyes.

Given his circumstances, the pirate captain was in no position to refuse Alexander regardless.

Although, he was also cunning enough to make a quick disclaimer, "However my lord, I was always taught that the seas around Galiosos and Thesos are quite dangerous."

"Around the island… since the Margraves family has lost power and fractured, they are unable to wield their navies, letting many powers like the Strauss, Kaiser and even the Heeat family chip their trade through proxies. So to effectively protect your trade… even I would have to be cautious about picking a fight with so many of them all at once."

"As for the Agesos Sea, i.e.- the sea around Thesos, that has always been infamous for its pirate activity. I would even go as far as to say it is the most pirate active area in the whole world. With so many independent cities…. all vying for power… that is only nature."

"Hmmm, so to explain why you have never encountered them… I am not sure. Perhaps the pirates have yet to notice you."

"....." Alexander listened to the pirate captain's brand new analysis of the situation with a muted smile, outwardly neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him.

While inside he let out a small groan, knowing the man was likely much more informed than him.

Indeed, when he claimed the seas around the routes should be safe, he was just posturing.

As the seller, Alexander obviously wanted the task to appear much easier than it actually was.

But in this attempt, he failed to swerve past the experienced captain, who managed to see right through him.

But then, instead of simply countering him, Vidiyan was clever enough to be very diplomatic in his response.

Hence, he claimed he was 'taught' of the facts rather than simply stating them, thus absolving Alexander of any wrong and letting him have face.

Obviously the man had picked up on quite the tools of diplomacy from his long interaction with the likes of the Heeat family and other aristocracy.

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

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original /book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705