Herald of Steel

The accusations thrown by Metztil towards Alexander right as they met were enough to make the man feel very angry.

For a moment, he even regretted rescuing these wastes, and venomously swore in his mind.

'Even after so many deaths and so many losses, they still refused to take lessons and improve themselves. There seems to be indeed a reason why the Margraves called these natives 'barbarians'. In terms of learning cognitive, these men really seem… handicapped!'

Then, seeing this kind of response, Alexander suppressed his urge to point out the mistakes in Metztil's words, thinking that an 'outsider' like himself was not capable of getting through the thick skull of such a brute of a man.

Thus he simply replied in a cool, succinct manner, "It's slower to march in formation. We also had to cross the river and then keep an eye out for any possible ambushes along the way. I told you to wait for us!"

Needless to say, Alexander's cautious explanation did not sit well with Metztil, getting him a disdainful look.

"We are true men! We don't sit and shit all day like you!" Metztil was very rude in his rapprochement to Alexander, causing many in the pasha's entourage to become very angry.

They wanted little more than to go and beat this man up, and only stopped themselves because Metztil had changed the topic by then, holding out his palm and snarling the demand,

"We want all the captured prisoners! Hand them over to us!"

It did not take someone too smart to understand what would happen to those roughly 3,000 men afterward,- heads were going to roll.

"....." While on the other side, seeing the extremely inconsiderate man's actions, the regret Alexander was feeling over saving Metztil was now beginning to multiply.

This was their loot.

They had captured these men and the ransom they would gain from them would go to the soldiers.

So dare the Helvati try and snatch their meat?

Especially when without Remus's help, the Helvati would have even likely had their lines completely broken and perhaps even taken in chains instead!

The livid faces around Alexander said it all, with one of the men finally being unable to hold it in any longer,

"You scoundrels! You dare? Without us you…." This man did not get to finish his threat as he was cut off by an enraged bark from the other side,

"Heh! Don't think I bought that shit of an excuse. Don't think I did not see you guys waiting in the back seeing us get slaughtered! So don't you dare ask what I dare do or not!"

The revelation was snarled out with great vehemence.

Naturally, he was angry over Alexander's previous inaction, especially because of what it led to,

"This is your last chance to hand over those men. They must pay for my sons! Or else I will turn my army around right here and now." the ultimatum was made with a greatly twisted face. Ꞧ₳𐌽ȱꞖËŞ

It seemed Alexander was wrong about the reason behind Metztil's ask.

It was not made due to greed for more loot in the form of slaves. The natives already had enough of that.

In fact, there were some who were so satisfied with the amount of booty they had looted that they did not even want to take part in the battle.

They would much rather take what they had gained and return home to enjoy it than risk it all.

So in some sense, it could be said that the Margraves were right.

It was just that they did not foresee Alexander promising them large swathes of land too. The Helvati were drawn to battle like a moth to a flame fueled solely by this greed.

Which was perhaps why Metztil's acrimony over losing two of his sons in the attack was so much greater. They were so close to enjoying the good things in life but now they were gone.

The man thus demanded his blood debt.

While Alexander stared back at the demanding man's furious gaze with a cool countenance.

He was certainly not going to give the man what he wanted.

Never mind the morality of sending the 3,000 to their execution, even just by the principle of wars of this times, these men were his property by right.

So towards Metztil, Alexander really just wanted to reply with a snort,

'You sons would be still alive if you had just listened to me. They are dead because of you, don't come crying to me!'

But he knew better than to poke a wounded man at his sore spot like this,

So after trying hard to sound sympathetic, Alexander lightly chimed,

"My condolences for your loss Chief. I know this is war but losing a child for any parent is heartbreaking.

As for my delay in coming to your aid, I can only apologize. By the time we reached here, your lines had become so chaotic that we had a hard time distinguishing you from the attacking Margraves.

We were afraid that the family was feigning a retreat and had to stay on guard for a counterattack. It was only after we confirmed there was no such threat that we dared to move."

Alexander might have sounded like he was consoling Metztil but in reality, he was simply covering hide while subtly reminding him that in wars, deaths happened, it came with the territory.

Then without giving Metztil time to retort, he swiftly proposed,

"If you want to avenge your fallen brothers, then do not look at me. Look there!" Alexander pointed towards the direction of the fleeing Margraves, "They are chief architecture. Defeat them and I will let you have their commander and any camp loot!"

This proposal for much great loot and blood was finally enough to get Metztil off Alexander's back, and as the man left with a sharp but gleeful glean in his eyes, it was unknown who came out on top here.

Because the wealth the Margraves camp should have would comfortably dwarf the ransom the close to 3,000 prisoners Alexander had now would bring.

But the man was willing to forego this future return in favor of what he had now and be just happy to get the chief off his back.

As soon as Metztil left, Alexander turned his attention to the much more relevant captured Margraves, and there he quickly met Lord Bernard.

As the commander of the rear guards, the very handsome man was personally escorted by Remus to meet Alexander and answer any questions.

"Lord Bernard! It's you!"

Then, as soon as he approached, a shout of recognition rang out from somewhere in the back of Alexander's formation and it was none other than Ser Robert- who by luck got to march close to Alexander, There was no way the former subordinate would mistake his boss's eye catching face.

"So you are him?" The recognizing name also caused Alexander to instantly jog his memory, "I have heard quite a lot from your subordinates about you."

Understanding Alexander was talking about Anon and Ser Robert, Lord Bernard did not know whether that was a compliment or not and only produced a sheepish smile, "My lord, I have some critical news to tell you."

Lord Bernard was worried what his men might have said about him and so afraid of being looked down upon, tried to appear very forthcoming in his eagerness to disclose all that he knew to Alexander.

Given the politics involved, this abandoned commander felt no qualms about betraying his former. 'comrades'.

"Oh?" It was thus Alexander listened with great enthusiasm about the reason why the other side had left Caira, the bad blood between the two families, why they had come here with half their forces and lastly the most concerning note, "Lord Parker is waiting for 20,000 reinforcements from his father!"

It was that last detail that caused the most panic in Alexander because he did not want to have to deal with thirty or even forty thousand men.

"Where are they? How far are they away? When will the two meet?" He thus instinctively posed, wanting to get a time.

It was just too bad that Lord Bernard could not properly answer any of this,

"Nobody knows my lord. If we knew, we likely would have stayed in Caira and waited for them. The only reason why the nobles sought a battle from you now is because we did not know when, if ever aid was going to come.

But I am fairly sure they should be on their way. Duke Heeat mentioned that in his letters."

"....." Lord Bernard's answer made Alexander understand that the relief fleet should be on their way here. It was just that they might have experienced some kind of problem at sea.

Now this was hardly uncommon for the era.

Naval forces numbering in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands have been lost to the last men due to storms, bad weather like fog causing the fleet to run into reefs, or even diseases.

But Alexander could hardly count on lady luck favoring him. He had to take the worst possibility into account.

"Order the army to break formation and start marching as quickly as possible. We cannot let the Margraves reach the foot of the hill."

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