Herald of Steel

Alexander had made all these considerations when he was thinking of giving Ptolomy the land in the first place, wishing to make Galiosos appear as a very alluring prospect on paper but in reality lack much of any value.

The only place that really mattered to Alexander on the island was his city of Midshire, and as long as he held that, the rest were secondary.

It was the biggest settlement around and it had everything he needed- i.e.- a good port for his ship to dock with his exports, a well defended hub for their supply and distribution, and a place to garrison his army in with secure logistic lines. It was the linchpin of his land.

The man kept all these thoughts to himself for now, while Seelima indeed promised to talk to Ptolomy with a heavy nod,

"I will try but Alexander, I would also caution you against getting your hopes too high up. This new land…. Ptolomy might see it as his greatest legacy- the first of his ancestors in centuries to expand Adhania's borders beyond the sea. So you cannot judge it like the rest of Adhan. He might try to hold on to it no matter the cost."

The small disclaimer was said while pinching her forehead, as the Queen Mother turned to see Alexander's reaction, and she was glad to find him only giving her a small understanding look.

All that there was to say about this had already been said. There was little point in repeating.

As for what would happen if the Queen Mother failed, well, Alexander thought it would stress the already pregnant lady far beyond her limits if he began to talk about failing even before she started.

Right now he had no intention of going around making threats or plotting schemes.

As for what would happen if she did fail… well even in the worst case, Alexander had contingencies to secure his interests. Only caveat was that such heavy handed tactics would greatly damage his already somewhat tenuous relation with the big man.

For now, he hoped there would be no need for either side to push each other so drastically.

Seelima on the other hand, still did not think Alexander fully understood her concerns, so after a slight pause, further iterated with an example,

"Alexander… you were not there when the court received news of your triumph of Tibias. Many wanted immediately for Ptolomy to seize it using royal decree. This is land we wanted to take for millennia. They believed it should belong to Adhania… not you."

"If not for me, Lord Iyazid and Pasha Farzah objecting till our voices cracked, you…. You should really give Pasha Farzah all the dowry he wants and more. And treat Lord Iyazid's granddaughters well."

The Queen Mother at first wanted to say Alexander should be really grateful to them for keeping a lid on Ptolomy. But as a royal with great decorum, felt it would be crude to dangle one's favor over an ally who was so close.

It was also not like Alexander was pulling his weight either… after all, he was the one who had defeated Tibias in the first place. So this was really the least they could do for him.

Hence she changed her comment at the last second, now referencing his would be marriage and slanting her eyes at Alexander's three new maids.

As for the man, he visibly pursed his lips with much clear displeasure at learning of his extremely unsavory attempt. He had even sent a lot of expensive gifts to the capital following his conquest just to keep Ptolomy happy.

All that endeavor seemed to have failed.

"Also I apologise for my previous words. Please do not take it to heart." While the pregnant lady finished her speech with this slightly guilty tone, mellowing her gaze a bit.

"Hahaha, Your Highness jest… I have already forgotten everything." To which Alexander instantly gave a frank, breezy laughter and animatedly brushed his palms, thus making the whole incident appear very tiny.

And the man genuinely felt like this.

Alexander was not such a petty man that he would hold a grudge over something that was said as an uncontrolled burst formed from intrusive thoughts. It was clear the Queen Mother was not in the best of states given her stage of pregnancy and since the lady had apologized, all of this had become water under the bridge for him.

"Seelima, if Ptolomy rules the island, how will he defend it if attacked? I am not very informed about the place… but from what Alexander said, it sounds like there were many powers there. What if war breaks out among them… if not now then in a few years?"

This soft voice of course belonged to Lady Inayah, and while she was glad to see the two sides reach an amicable resolution, she was also apprehensive about Ptolomy quickly knocking the whole castle down.

"..." And towards her hypothetical query, the pair had little response. They were not Ptolomy neither did they have a fly on his wall.

"You cannot think he will ask Alexander or me to use our navy to go defend it right?" Lady Inayah took the silence as a far greater cause of concern as she blurted this out with a very incredulous face, the unwillingness to obey very clearly tinged in every word.

It was no secret that she and Alexander were in the midst of building respective navies but it was more meant to protect their ships and coasts, not go fight off wars, and certainly not wars where they had no stake in.

As said many times by Alexander, the land there was very small and very far away.

"....." Once again Seelima remained silent. She had initially wanted to snap at Lady Inayah for daring to claim she would refuse her king, but quickly stopped herself.

The Queen Mother knew her friend and understood what Lady Inayah was really trying to point out the folly of such an order.

Alexander on the other hand was not that concerned about such a possibility. Because he did not foresee things going that bad in the near term as determined by his far better knowledge on the ground.

And because his navy was not Ptolomy's to command.

In Adhania, each Pasha was almost like a king of his own province, raising their own armies, collecting taxes, maintaining their borders and resolving most disputes. All this was done using men from that individual province without any input from the capital.

The king was really the spiritual leader, with powers to enforce common, board laws and policy… such as banning certain exports from unfriendly powers, taxing the nobles and collecting tithes and sending magistrates to investigate any suspected rogue retainers.

And if he found a noble to be in gross violation of any of his decrees, he had the power to punish and even declare war on him.

However, if the king wanted anything out of these powerful lords that was substantial, such as men and material for a war, he would have to pay up- the nobles already paid taxes so there was no way they were going to give even more staff for free.

And if the king's coffers were too empty, well then he would have to negotiate and butter with various promises such as land or even a hand in marriage with one of his sons or daughters.

Unfortunately Lady Inayah was not like that, as she was directly under Ptolomy, living in Adhan and one of his closest retainers.

If called, she would have to respond as sworn in during her oath.

While Alexander was even more free than the other Pashas as he did not even pay taxes, this was his agreed reward for helping Ptolomy get his throne.

Hence making quite light of that possibility, he switched topic to something much more glaring. Something that the Queen Mother had said had caught his eye,

"Who are 'they'?' He suddenly chimed, glancing at the Queen Mother and expounding, "Your Highness… you said 'they' wanted His Majesty to seize Tibias. Who are these 'they'? "

There was a very clear tinge of hostility to his voice by the end.

"... Some nobles in the court." Came the predictable answer, delivered using a flat, unimpressed tone.

Which was then added upon by Lady Inayah in an erudite voice,

"Mmmm… there is indeed a portion of court that extremely dislikes you. Some are jealous of your position, some are envious of your success, some detest that someone of your background is like them…and some simply hate you for the sake of hating you. Oh! Of course there are some that are secretly Amenheraft's cronies, troublemakers whose only intention is to muddy the entire well."

The ebony lady was very frank in her revelation, creasing her brows and lightly clenching her teeth. She could not believe even in this great crisis there would be such annoying problems.

"Darm cockroaches!" Hence she spat under her breath to finish.

"There are also many who hate you for the sack of the city and killing their kin during the previous battles." While Queen Mother added a point that her friend had missed.

".... I really should have put more ears here." Hearing it all, Alexander at last lampooned a bit.

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