Herald of Steel

Chapter 1502  Setting off for Adhan

Cambyses's salary proposal of 400 to 500 ropals a month was without doubt extremely generous. Only the highest artisans made that much reliably.

The experienced bureaucrat even left open the option of increasing it to more if the hired tutor was skilled enough.

So if the fallen noblewoman still did not accept, it was clear she was not interested.

Hence Alexander did not interject and allowed Cambyses to make the new terms.

Vidiyan too accepted this graciously and then, as the pirate captain finally bowed and said his farewells, Alexander as one last reminder, reiterated a few of the key points,

"Ahhhh captain, I believe you know better than me this, but once again, I urge you to choose your targets carefully. Don't target the Heeats too openly. And remember all our agreements." …..

With the pirate seen off and having mostly dealt with the aftermath of the flood, Alexander soon found his time to leave for the capital was drawing dangerously near.

If he did not set sail now, the waters around would get too dangerous to cross and he would miss the pilgrimage and the wedding ceremony.

So he hurriedly ordered all hands available to prepare, readying all the various gifts, gathering all the provisions for him and his men and lastly, marshaling an entire legion.

Given Lady Nanazin's warning, Alexander was not willing to take any chances. He would take with him an army.

In fact Alexander originally wanted to take two legions but upon informing the royal court of his intended itinerary, a return bird was swiftly sent saying due to the immense number of people coming for the pilgrimage there was little spare space in the city and Alexander should consider bringing only a thousand.

And on the surface, this seemed like a very reasonable ask. Most nobles did not have bring more than 20 to 30 men- a squad, while even Pashas restricted themselves to at best an entourage of a few hundred men. This was because all these extra guards would begin to quickly add up and housing and feeding so many took a strain even on the royal family.

Plus security at the venue was always very good and there was yet to be a crazed man insane enough to commit an act as heinous as murder during such a sacred time on such holy grounds. In such a theocratic country, even the most depraved of the society seemed to have some fear of the gods, afraid of being damned for all eternity even if they succeeded here.

Hence for all its history, the Jtaama pilgrimage had always been without any great incident.

This subsequently also made Ptolomy's permission for Alexander to bring an enormous thousand men appear all the more cordial, as it appeared very accommodating.

Yet,

Alexander was not satisfied by this number.

The pasha of Zanzan rather translated the thousand to being more like 6,000 men, troops and servants combined.

And then, to safeguard against any tricks from the others, even decided to take six months of food for his men from Zanzan, enough to easily see them through the winter and almost up to summer.

….

Just the legions boarding the 50 ships took Alxx all day, while loading all the several thousands of tons of provisions like grain, salt, smoked meat and fish, and beans took even longer.

As a side note, most of this food was taken from the flood aid bought by Lord Theony and Prince Philips. When Alexander had called, both men had responded with surprising alacrity, rushing to be the first to arrive. And they brought with them several ships full of the stuff, wishing to impress. Alexander was quite satisfied by both of them.

….

Alongside the troops, the ships were also filled with all kinds of gifts, including the most eye catching off- a single ship solely designated for carrying two elephants!

They were Alexander's war booty from Perseus and now they were on the way to be salve that healed Ptolomy's wounded heart. Although even getting the beasts onto the rickety vessel proved surprisingly tricky.

These huge beasts felt too cramped even in a ship tens of meters long and the light shimmering off the surrounding ocean regularly scared them of extreme bouts of rage.

In these poor animals' minds, it was inconceivable to think this whole thing was in any way safe- to ride on a tiny piece of wood surrounded by deep, unfamiliar 'blue land'... the elephants thought their human master had lost their minds.

While the mahoots in charge tried a few ways to remedy this.

First they tried to blind the animal with a cloth, covering its eyes so that they could not see they had left land. But that proved ineffective as the sensation of the ship rocking still remained and after being stripped of one of its senses, the beasts felt all its other facilities greatly enhanced.

So it was able to quickly feel the sway and instantly charged down the ramp, then refused any further order to go up.

Following that failure, some of the dock workers thought of simply hoisting the animal onto the ship via cranes- the same ones used to move cargo. But all of them simply needed to take a single look at the huge, multi ton, slightly irritated behemoth and then at the 'flimsy' ropes making up the crane and pulley to quickly shove that idea. None of them dared to think of the mess it could cause if the ropes suddenly snapped.

And that was if they could even get the animal up in the first place. Puny human and animal muscle power did not seem to have been designed to move such 'living mountains'.

Hence for a second, Alexander considered just letting the animals simply march from Zanzan to Adhan on foot. This would of course take a lot of time and certainly miss the deadline, but such examples were also not that uncommon.

There were many instances of presents for a wedding arriving months after the ceremony due to production constraints or just taking a lot of time to transport.

However just then an experienced mahoot in charge of the other elephants came up to Alexander to reveal how they had transported the beasts from the Kaiser family's territories to Tibias via ships.

They had put down very large sails just above the water of the docks, so that the elephants could not see the water, letting it mistake that the entire place was actually connected to land. After that, it was easily baited to climb the ship with just some food.

And once up, chalked the slight swaying to just it being a slightly bad patch of rickety land. ….

"So that is how we got these beasts into the ships, Your Highnesses!" Alexander was right now in the two princesses' cabin, retelling them of the entire process of how all this had happened, which they eagerly listened to with big doey eyes, their faces flushed with amazement.

The two girls always had a fascination for animals and elephants were no different. In fact, given its exotic nature, they were very curious to know more about them.

And the cunning Alexander of course took full advantage of this, beguiling them with all kinds of stories about the creature and fooling the girls into letting him slip into their rooms  What kinds of food it ate, how it used its trunks to eat them, what these animals liked and disliked, why they have so big ears and so many more things…. all this to him was mostly general knowledge he picked watching a few documentaries.

But for the girls… it amazed them beyond words.

And it was because they were so taken by Alexander's fantastical stories that they began to subconsciously lower their guards against the man, to the point by now he was allowed to sit side by side with them in a small cramped bed, so close that it even him smell that youthful, clean fragrance coming from the two's silvery hair. Stimulated by this sensation, Alexander also could not help but sneakily scan his eyes over the two sisters, quickly soaking in the breathtaking sight. Their magnificent hair was fully let down, with only the ends braided and tied into a knot to keep them in place, then being decorated using fabulously expensive pins and clips. They were dressed in identical full sleeved white robes, letting Azira and Azura's chocolate skin perfectly contrast it, along with the fantastic gold and purple stitchings at the sleeves, hems and neck working to emphasize the two's beauty even more.

The loose clothes hid much of their body's contour, yet in a paradoxical way, this made the shapes that struck out, such as their burgeoning chest and developing hips appear even more prominent.

And as the girl slightly moved their bodies or even just breathed in and out, those bulges became even more prominent.

The sight stimulated Alexander far more than it should, possibly due to him being at sea for quite a few days without any 'fun'.

Alexander was starting to become quite pent up, letting his wolfish instinct take more and hold. But the man quickly reigned his wants. His goal for meeting the princesses like this was to bring them to his side regarding the marriage.

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