Herald of Steel

That charismatic chief's assassination came as a bolt out of the blue for the natives of the time.

Sure they might have been dissatisfied and frustrated with him over many things, but even then, most commoners respected him.

And even those who spoke against him mostly wanted him to only change his style.

They never dared to ask him to step down in their wildest dreams because even they knew who it was holding them together.

But that wildly mutual thought was not shared by one, very small group of extremists.

These men were mostly hidden among the military, and they blamed the chief for everything, especially their recent string of losses.

They cried about how their brothers were sacrificed needlessly and how the commanders were incompetent, all while refusing to see the black and white reality- i.e.- they were simply too outnumbered and outgunned.

Thus every time they lost and were pushed back, these emotionally charged cries rang out from the tribes.

At first these warhawks predictably wanted more men to join the ranks as a way to reduce the numbers gap.

But as already said earlier, the traders and merchants blocked that, asking for greater trading freedom in exchange.

They claimed that with greater sales volume, they would be able to contribute more in terms of taxes.

However, the chief vetoed that idea due to political considerations.

Which meant the problem remained and without him realizing it, ended up offending both factions.

All this finally came to a head after a particularly bad loss, and as the news reached the tribes of the defeat, a certain group of extremist men decided to infiltrate the chief's man that very night and kill him.

What followed afterward could easily be imagined.

Absolute chaos!

The tribes were already losing under the overwhelming force of the three families in the best of times.
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And now that they had become a headless chicken, the situation turned from worse to nearly apocalyptic.

Some natives would even say it was worse now than even the first time because this time, the ones killing them were not the foreigners, but they themselves.

The three families had indeed remained true to their words and did not take the opportunity to attack the tribes after they had disposed of the 'tyrant'.

Mostly because they did not need to.

The tribes naturally fell into chaos by themselves, with each tribe once again squabbling for power.

Many accusations, blames and threats were thrown around, with each and every petty chieftain worth their salt having a very personal view of why everything had gone so wrong, a view that he believed in without question.

And when these hot blooded, power hungry warlords met and locked heads, it was only natural that blood and death quickly followed.

Leaderless, the natives thus entered perhaps the most chaotic civil strife of their history, and in their lust for power, managed to completely dismantle everything they had achieved up until that point.

The once moderately centralized society created by their great leader was shattered into bits, and they not only returned to their tribal lifestyles but by some accounts, perhaps even regressed further.

It was thought so because, during this time, the natives were sometimes so brutal to each other, that it even shocked the three families.

Rarely had these distinguished people seen atrocities being committed at such large scales in the civilized world.

It even got to the point that many times these forces chose to step in to stop these tribes from going too far, instead of you know, instigating the natives to rip and tear each other apart.

It was almost as if these people were making up for the time they lost being orderly and civil.

The end result of all this was the complete rout of the islanders as a fighting force, as their own greed and avarice destroyed themselves.

What would have been a very tough nut to crack for the Sybarians even if that legendary chief was gone soon ceased to be.

And then over the next century, the cruel tides of time inevitably overtook them.

These tribes were either assimilated by the ruling forces or for those still refusing to bow, fled to the inky swamps once again, where they firmly clung to their thin shamanic ways.

"Those living descendants never forgot how we 'apparently' deceived them. Heh! To this day, they blame us for killing that legendary chief and everything that followed." Lord Janus produced a mocking sneer as he said this, finding the claim ridiculous given it was clear the tribal people were as much to blame as them.

If one was the paymaster, then the other was the assassin- both were equally guilty.

And then the elder lord finished by chiming, "But nowadays they don't dare to challenge us openly. They will at best lead an occasional raiding party or two across the wall to attack some of the surrounding villages and take a few livestock. It seems they have realized their positions and are willing to submit… they only need an opportunity to save face."

Lord Janus clearly turned his head to look at Lady Miranda as he said that last phrase, subtly hinting at some of the agreements he might have received with the barbarians during his deals with them.

And this let Alexander figure that these barbarians were probably willing to attach themselves to the Margraves in a kind of vassal state like merger.

Without a doubt, living in a swamp filled with putrid water and enormous mosquitoes was not an enviable state to be in. Diseases and illness ran rampant and it seemed the natives finally had enough.

And this offer to Alexander frankly sounded like a great idea.

Especially given they were not simply asking Lady Miranda to give in to their demands.

In a show of their sincerity, they were even willing to fight for their new lady.

So what was there not to like about this arrangement?

"Snort! Was this all said by them… or you, Uncle Janus?" The plump lady of the house however had this to say after hearing the entirety of the recount, remaining fully skeptical that all this was proposed by the old man to win the support of the natives.

The natives did not come begging... rather the elder man went to them.

And this seemed unacceptable to the lady.

Towards this type of blind hatred, Lord Janus could do little but purse his lips a bit.

Then suddenly the genteel man's demeanor changed, as in a hardened voice that betrayed all his other interactions, he shot up in a chiding tone,

"Miranda! Now is not the time to be looking for enemies. Now is the time to look for friends. You have very precious few! Who cares how I did it? They agreed!

That's what it all matters! Take the deal!"

This was the first time Alexander had seen the elder man lose his temper, becoming apparent that he did not like Lady Miranda brushing his efforts aside simply like that, like it was nothing.

And to make that point clear, as Lady Miranda was recovering from the shock of being talked to like that, Lord Janus went on to further add with an angry, magnetic scolding,

"You spoiled brat seem not to appreciate the hole you are in. I would say you have one leg in the grave, but that would be too generous. You are already buried neck deep!"

"Do you know how much risk I had to take to contact those barbarians? Do you know how much thought and effort I had to spend to get you that deal? You spoiled brat… how dare you sniffle your nose at me like this? Acting like you are some kind of princess! Wake up fool! You are nothing!

A pauper who is being kept fed and clothed by him!"

As Alexander felt Lord Janus's finger point towards him, even he was surprised by how acrid and bitter the old man's words were.

"..." While Lady Miranda just widened her eyes and sat there on her chain shell shocked, her rosy cheeks and plump lips became completely drained of all blood, while her eyes lost all focus.

Never in her life had seen been scolded even a tenth of what she had been just down. And perhaps much more than that, what hurt her even more was how Lord Janus said many of the things were taboo.

Everyone knew about them but tacitly agreed not to mention it, such as how Alexander still acted cordially with her and asked for her input.

However with Lord Janus ripping over the band aid, the raw wounded pierced the lady's heart.

The meeting for that day ended right then and there, with Lord Janus storming out of the room in extreme frustration, while Lady Miranda sat all alone on her chair for almost an hour, no one daring to disturb her.

The outburst for Lord Janus was understandable- he had come with the thought that he had finally found the key to the solution of all their problems.

If the Margraves were not going to support Lady Miranda, then she might as well seek approval from a third party.

Not only was he not rewarded for his efforts and the enormous risks he took to contact such taboo forces, but worse, he was directly questioned about his intentions by the very girl he was trying to save.

That was the last straw that snapped the old man's nerves.

While in defense of Lord Margaret, given her upbringing and teachings, she found to very hard to trust the natives.