Herald of Steel

Lady Nanazin would only really feel the effects of their session after she woke up a few hours later, with especially her butt being too sore to even sit on. And so for a majority of the day, she would have her maid rubbing ointment over it as well as her two canals, soothing some of the aches coming from there.

It was good that this was not her first rodeo regarding such a thing and her two personal maids knew what they were doing, thus letting Lady Nanazin avoid embarrassingly calling an unknown doctor to treat her.

But even for these experienced maids, their mistress's deplorable state was a marvel to behold.

As they cleaned her crevices, wrung out all the cream from there, and applied ointment on the various parts of the body, the sheer extent of the damage made it hard for them to believe this was done by only one man.

Usually when their lady had this many scars painted on her, it usually meant a bigger crowd.

The more experienced of the maid even knew just how hungry their mistress could be since they had been roped into some of her session back in the capital and so seeing her brutally tamed like this, even felt a little bit wet down there, as she could not help but imagine just how virile the young pasha must be in bed.

Of course that was all she dared to do- just imagine.

Because their mistress had made it clear to them on day one that if any of them were to try anything with Alexander, she would feed them to the fishes the very next day.

These events would only take place over the following day.

For now, as the lady slept and recovered inside the peaceful manor, we had to turn our attention just a few kilometers west from here, where a full fledged raging battle was currently underway- the battle for Phyrros Island- land edition.

Ship after ship bearing the red horse against a golden wheat field emblem was mooring themselves side by side along the shore of the island, its deck swarming with armed to the teeth soldiers, while Scorpyo, who was in charge of the defensive garrison blasted out at the top of his voice,

"Throw your javelins! Don't let them land!"

"Catapaultes! Target the ships! Sink them!"

"Archers! Where are the archers! Why are you not shooting?"

"What do you mean you are short on bolts! Fuck! Shoot them till you run out!"

"We cannot lose this island. Defend it to the last arrow! Defend it to the last man! Hold on no matter what!"

The orders caused a great cheer to rise from the legionary ranks, while at the same time, for the attacking side, the amphibious operation proved quite challenging.

The hail of accurate arrow fire from well fortified position proved to be an extremely deadly gauntlet to cross while those 'huge' stones those catapults threw felt like cannonballs.

A man hit by them was instantly turned to jelly in that spot, while the hits to the ships caused it eerily to shake and crack.

However, despite the adversity, the men persevered on, for they had no choice of retreat.

Lord Macht who was leading the men personally, had given the didactic order,

"Kill any man who takes a single step back. They are deserters. The only way is forward. We must take the island by sundown no matter what!"

The reason for this harsh command was not only because Lord Macht was a martinet officer, but also to secure his place as Achillas's replacement. He had to show results here due to the events of the past three days.

Lord Macht had used the previous three days of bring order to the camp and totally solidify his family's hold over the men.

He did this by removing most of the original Margraves officers from their posts and assimilating their units into his own formation. Meaning these units were not only placed inside the Heeat family's chain of command by having their officers replaced with one from the Heeat family.

Far more than that, the Margraves formations were broken up into smaller pieces, and physically placed into Lord Macht's formation, thus forming a mixed composition.

The veteran warrior did this one because he did not have enough officers to swallow the Margraves entirely in one go, and two because he thought such a move would generate too much of a resistance with the other family's troops.

Thus he dressed up the annexation of the army as an 'exercise between allies', touting that his

move only had the goal to foster greater cooperation between the two sides.

Getting up to a raised podium, this wizened, black warrior had declared in front of the gathered men,

"I know that many of you have questions regarding the recent reshuffle. A lot of you might have misgivings about your brothers from the other family."

"However, remember that it takes two to start a fight. Whatever has happened, both sides must share the blame for it. That is why I have decided to combine the two of you, to let you fight side by side, as brothers in arms, and use the Adhanians' blood to wash away all the ill will."

This grand speech was of course not written by the simple and not so eloquent Lord Macht but instead by the combined efforts of many of the scribes present.

The exact details of how all this went were quite long winded and mundane but long story short, after Lord Macht had initiated his bloodless purge of the Margraves, many of the officers quickly sensed the growing resentment among both sides, since there was enough bad blood between them to make mixing them seem like oil and water.

The Margraves naturally questioned the move while many of the Heeat soldiers found themselves getting lumped with 'these people' too irritating.

They understood Lord Macht's intention to blend the two forces seamlessly would not work.

Hence these officers then reported their findings to the nobleman Lord Kite, who upon agreeing with them decided to meet Lord Macht in private.

Aad after a lengthy discussion regarding what strategy to follow to subdue the Margraves, he convinced the veteran warrior to give a speech to the men, a speech crafty made to target all the men's concerns.

And the eloquence the scribes managed to put into it let it be a resounding success, for as hollow as the words were, they managed to get the job done- placating the grassroots men from both sides.

Of course, such shallow reasoning was not enough to fool the true heavyweights.

But these people either consented to this merger, such as in the case of the Heeat family or unfortunately in the case of the Margraves, they had already been removed from their post due to incompetence and placed under house arrest. There was little chance for them to influence the troops.

Yes, this was the excuse Lord Macht had come up with when removing the Margraves officers- saying they were under investigation for the result of the recent battle, with there even some who were incredulously suspected of causing the bridge to fall down.

For the Margraves troops this operation proved disastrous since their top command was basically decapitated with such speed that they were left without anyone to lead them.

They found it too hard to resist such a well coordinated attack and since their officers were only captured and not killed, they lacked that pressure to unite and choose a new leader.

Lord Macht under his council's advice had even cleverly given a few very menial rear duty missions to some of the less influential Margrave's officers, duties such as overseeing the stables, or the cleanliness of the camp or the reins to the stock of some less important supplies.

All these in front of an average, not so bright Margraves troop worked to put up the picture that their officers were indeed being treated justly, and this was not a simple purge.

Hence under these various pressures, they would only force down their resentment and assimilate themselves into the greater force.

While watching all of this from the sidelines, Miss Linda's heart burned with a silent, furious scream.

This was not at all what she had in mind.

According to her plans, things should have been the exact opposite.

Lord Bernard was supposed to have reached a resounding victory and with her whispering in Lord Parker's ear, she should have been the one to stealthily eat up the Heeat forces.

However that 'idiot' had not only gotten himself stabbed but much more than that, had fallen so far from her husband's graces, that he might as well have dug a grave for himself and buried himself in it.

In fact, Miss Linda felt that if not for her being there as well as Lord Parker being concerned about how the 10,000 Margraves troops would react, this man would have been already silently taken care of, instead of being left alone in the most remote tent of the camp, guarded twenty four seven with security so heavy that it might have actually eclipsed even Lord Parker's own entourage.

If Achillas did not return safe and sound, she truly feared for his life. And was even glad to see Lord Macht take temperory control of the camp.

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