Herald of Steel

Alexander would come to know the details of Remus's victory late that evening when the men returned with their quarry, and it would produce a series of rather complicated feelings within him.

Alexander would of course be very happy at how his men were able to accomplish such a grand victory, especially without him. This made him feel reassured that he would be able to delegate more pressing tasks to them in the future.

But at the same time, he wondered if all the risks they had taken were worth it. If Alexander was in their shoes, he was not sure he would have gambled so much, especially when the payoff seemed so little to him.

Alexander thought that in the grand scheme of things losing around a thousand men was not too big a deal for Lord Parker. Thus he was a bit displeased at Remus for risking so much, thinking the young man was chasing personal glory too much.

However, at the end of the day, the fact of the matter was that Remus had won, bringing some much needed morale boost to the army.

Thus Alexander did not feel like dumping cold water on the excited general.

He wanted to in general encourage such a 'go getting' attitude, and hence, dragging his still recovering body to the camp, Alexander made sure to first congratulate all the participating men on their great victory.

And it was only after that that he reluctantly turned his head to the imminent problem at hand.

"My lord, what about the captured men?" The ever diligent Scorpyo was there to very quickly remind Alexander of his task, and hearing this, the latter internally fumed a bit.

Alexander really did not want to deal with this problem. Because it was not an easy problem to solve.

He already had Anoon and his around two hundred men. Now combine that with the newly captured eight hundred and the ongoing food and drinking water shortage, and you could concoct a very potent headache inducing tonic for the one trying to solve this dilemma.

Alexander had a hard time finding a way to keep these prisoners with him while ransoming them away for now was certainly out of the question.

He did not lack money and the last thing he wanted was to give back the already hugely outnumbering enemy its troops back.

There was really one way to deal with them that Alexander could think of. But Alexander was very reluctant to take that bloody road. He saw himself as no butcher.

The problem appeared so complex that at the point, Alexander even half regretted his seat as the top dog, thinking that if he was someone a bit lower down the totem pole, this hot potato could have been handed to someone else.

Just like Remus had responded to Scorpyo's original inquiry, chuckling in a breezy tone, "Winning the battle is our responsibility! Anything after that… is Alexander's!"

"Keep them in the pens for now! I will deal with them in the following week!"

But even after trying for a while, Alexander was unable to make a decisive decision. So like so many others before him, the man decided to kick the can down the road.

Alexander decided he would only commit the heinous act if he was forced to the very edge of his ropes. For now, he was content to wait and hope for a change in the circumstances by some miracle.

Fortunately for him and the captured prisoners of war, that change would come sooner rather than later as the person who they had been waiting for so long and the reason Alexander had to fight so many battles- Lord Janus would finally arrive the next morning.

And Alexander would be there to personally receive the man from the harbor, looking excitedly towards the large group of sail slowly drifting towards him.

However, that monumental excitement would be dampened by quite a bit upon realizing the exact number of the sails. They were quite a ways away from the numbers he was promised. Almost one fifth to be precise.

Instead of the promised five thousand, Alexander counted around a thousand.

This was too much of a discrepancy for the slightly desperate man to accept.

Thus as the ships moored closer, the ever hopeful Alexander even tried to placate himself by saying to himself,

'Surely more hidden in the morning fog, right?'

Alas, his eyes did not deceive Alexander when he most wanted them to.

With eight ships and a thousand men, Lord Janus had brought all the forces he could muster in a short period of time, but it was still very, very far from sating Alexander's ravenous appetite.

In front of Lord Parker's twenty two thousand, the 'reinforcements' were more like a drop in the bucket and nothing like the decisive force that was promised to him by the passionate Lady Miranda.

Realizing he had been lied to, Alexander thus sent a very clear deathly glare towards the plump woman standing standing next to him, demanding an explanation.

"..." The now widow only produced a helpless, self depreciating smile

It was not like Lady Miranda had not predicted what would happen when she lied to Alexander to boost his morale and have him support her.

It was just that she was willing to bear that cost.

And now it seemed the time had come to pay up, for the birds had come to roost.

Lady Miranda thus made no clever attempt to shield herself, but simply accepted Alexander's accusation silently, a tacit admission of her guilt.

"Sigh!" While Alexander, understanding the logic behind the lady's actions and seeing no words come out to defend herself, decided to let it go for the moment.

He did not want to cause a scene out here.

Rather, he reflected on the matter by himself, rebuking, '*Tsk*, given the time when she said it, I should have guessed she was stretching the truth. There was no way she would in such dire straits if she had an ally able to raise an entire legion in such short notice!'

Lady Miranda's words worked because at the time, Alexander was also very desperate, and he also did not know the exact size of Lord Janus's fief and the allies the man could call upon.

Hence, after staring at Lady Miranda's sincere eyes, he was willing to use that promise as a clutch. Ultimately though, that clutch proved to have been false.

The good thing was that Alexander's currpositioniton was vastly different from the time the promise was made.

With two large, consecutive victories under his belt as well as the enemy general being his 'guest', morale in the camp remained high even when the promised reinforcements did not appear in the quantities promised.

As Lord Janus's men disembarked, some of the more hot blooded and impulsive legionnaires even swore to their brothers with supreme confidence,

"Bah! Look at those flowers! Who needs them? We are winning even without them. They only want to snatch our glory."

The more experienced officers could only let out a helpless smile at this, unsure whether to scold them for their hubris or praise them for their courage.

Ultimately, they only warned their men to behave and not pick fights with their allies.

And speaking of allies, quickly hiding all bitterness within himself, Alexander was there to cordially greet the disembarking Lord Janus, hugging the old man and chuckling, "Haha, Lord Janus! We are so relieved you came so soon. We were starting to get worried! The enemy has been relentless."

Alexander did not want to poke the old man just as he arrived after the long journey and thus made no mention of the scant number of troops he brought. Every man counted to the young pasha.

Lord Janus however was also not so easily fooled, and realizing from the surrounding looks and body language what the issue was, frankly rebuked himself,

"Bah! This old fool could only bring this much. All those bastards who drank and swore that they would go to even hell with me have thrown their conscience to the dogs. I will skin them all once I get back!"

It seemed Lord Janus's voyage to gather allies for his lady had gone very poorly, with not even his close friends daring to answer the call. It had broken the man's heart, something that was clearly visible even on his face.

Even when the fatigue of travel was taken into account, the once handsome man with shining white hair now looked gaunt and haggard, with sunken cheeks and dull eyes.

Seeing this, Alexander was there to quickly placate the frustrated man with a few kind words, "No, no! What matters is that you are here, my lord. You and your supplies will greatly help us! You are trulgodsendsend."

The recognition seemed to somewhat please the man, as nodding his head, Lord Janus then informed,

"Mmmm… just like what Miranda had asked, I brought as much grain and water as I could. Those three ships are filled with it!"

This news was perhaps even more sweet to Alexander's ears than the thousand new reinforcements, as it meant he would be able to keep his prisoners.

The drop of the stone from his heart was enough to make the man produce a genuine smile.

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