Herald of Steel

Alexander was quite a bit peeved when the Margraves family council members refused to swear Lady Miranda in as the new head.

Sure given that they were in the middle of a war, the entire thing might have been purely ceremonial.

But one should not also underestimate the effects of a purely political move.

The ability to firmly say that Lady Miranda was chosen as their head by the family during the negotiations would have been a great card to have.

However, try as he might, the Margraves council members refused to budge, claiming themselves to have become apolitical.

While at the same time, Lady Miranda appeared also reluctant to apply greater pressure. For her, it was already considered a victory to make them flip from actively supporting her sister to becoming neutral.

And she feared that if she were to push them too hard, instead of becoming hers, they might simply secretly flip back and stab her in the back at the crucial point.

Lady Miranda wanted to avoid that worst case scenario.

So as Alexander pressured them, she secretly urged him,

"Forget these old coons. I only need them alive for the next few years. I will be able to train a few men to replace them by then. It will be good if they are obedient till that."

And given it was the lady of the house's wish, along with the staunch resistance Alexander had little recourse but to agree.

But that made him slowly warm up to the idea of leaving Caira, as he began to see the advantages were slowly creeping up to upset the risks.

After all what was the point of holding the manor if Lady Miranda could not be officially declared his owner?

And what would happen if Lord Parker managed to successfully blockade the harbor?

He might have fewer ships than Alexander, but his men were multiple times more skilled. They even did not need to fight the legionaries head on, but simply make leaving and entering the harbor too dangerous of a prospect.

If that were to truly happen, Alexander would undoubtedly starve and die.

But the last thing that finally pushed Alexander to make the decision came from a very surprising source- Lady Parthia!

This former queen of Tibias had rarely shown herself in these meetings recently, content to fly away her time in her own room by herself.

Thus it came as quite a surprise to Alexander when the lady sought an audience with him one morning.

"My lady, welcome, welcome! What a pleasant surprise! I apologize for not being able to come to see you recently haha." Alexander flattered her as the lady entered, even going as far as to personally pour her a glass of wine, just like a filial junior should.

"I have heard from Lady Nanazin that you were very busy with everything. In fact, that was why I came."

Lady Parthia on the other hand eschewed most of the flowery talks and directly declared her intentions as soon as her large bottom hit the soft cushion.

"My lord, I have heard about your talks regarding the city and allying with the northerners. I am here to ask that you agree to do so."

"????"

As Alexander produced an almost incredulous face hearing it, the mature lady had no problem meeting the expression head on, even leisurely taking a sip of the sweet but spicy wine as a way to show her confidence.

If it had been almost another person, even if it was Lady Nanazin or Lady Miranda, Alexander would have directly scoffed and then showed her the door, claiming they did not know what they were talking about.

However, the lady in front of him was different.

Lady Parthia's experience in administration and her record of pulling Tibias through some pretty hard times made it hard for Alexander to dismiss her like the others.

So tracing his chin, Alexander narrowed his eyes in skepticism and shot back with a soft query,

"Hmmm… I recall my lady advising me of such a thing even before. Does my lady still think it is wise given their history?"

"The grudges between the natives and Margraves are irrelevant to us. We are not the Margraves family." Lady Parthia however was very confident in her idea.

So leaning herself over a bit, she revealed in a clear, almost didactic voice,

"What my lord should do is forget what you are allying yourself with the Margraves, but rather it is them who are allying with you. Show the natives you are in charge and the Margraves are simply your followers. That will help build trust in them."

"The natives betrayed the Margraves because they have been betrayed by them before. They fear they will be backstabbed, so they backstabbed first. But if it is you, a complete outsider, they are far more likely to trust you!"

"....." Alexander was at first a bit caught off guard by this, especially given how emphatically Lady Parthia said herself.

Her words did not sound like they were mere logical deductions.

"You speak like you have experience in this, my lady?" Alexander thus curiously asked.

"Mmm! Tibias too has many rebellious tribes. And they have caused much trouble for us. Heh heh, I am sure my lord will meet them soon enough !"

The way Lady Parthia ended her words with that chuckle might have sounded very pleasant to the ear, but its worrying implications immediately made Alexander's heart skip two beats, and he frowned his eyebrows in distress.

The former queen took this as a sign for her to elaborate and so frankly revealed in a succinct manner,

"The southern parts of our country are quite hilly and contain a group of very fierce tribes. Till now they have refused to submit to any royal decree. We managed to deal a great blow to them about a decade ago and that has made them obedient till now. But it is really a matter of time before they rear their heads…."

Lady Parthia trailed off in a languid manner after saying this, very much enjoying the fierce expression that had suddenly surfaced on Alexander's face.

And how could he not react like so, as he screamed in his head,

'You cheating vixens! You did not bother to tell me that a ticking time bomb was waiting right at my doorstep! Ahhhhh! You swine!..... And why did none of the books mention that?'

The reason why this particular knowledge was able to dodge Alexander was not because the man was negligent but because it had been omitted from all recent official Tibian records.

After the huge victory against the tribes, the Tibian royal court at the time simply deemed them as extinct as it was assumed the tribes were never going to be able to recover.

And subsequent developments did lay credence to this type of thinking.

For instance, when Amenheraft invaded the country and the royal court was pushed near to the brink, that should have been the perfect chance for the tribes to cause trouble and extract concessions.

But there was nothing, not a peep.

And the same went when Alexander invaded. Typically they should have lent him their help in exchange for some kind of negotiated favorable deal.

That's why, most scribes and scholars simply figured those ancient tribes were a relic of the past and thus relegated them to the pages of history.

Only a few people with extreme far sight such as the queen simply viewed them as a viable threat, one that needed to be guarded against even now.

She believed these tribes could not be so easily uprooted, or else they could have survived for so long.

However, her voice was in the extreme minority, as most found it not inconvenient to believe such a thorny problem still existed.

Add to that the fact that Lady Parthia was a woman, who was wildly considered to be inferior in politics when compared to me, she was hardly given any attention.

The threat was left completely ignored.

Thus in a way, it could be said this was her way of warning Alexander now.

Alexander however would find all these later.

For now, he decided to leave this dormant problem after simply noting it inside his head.
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And turned to bigger fish to fry.

With Lady Parthia's expertise over the subject, Alexander finally found someone unbiased to consult with.

So over the following hour, they talked about various ways this deal could be made.

And the sum of that discussion could be expressed by this statement from the regal queen,

"My lord, you should not see this conflict as us against the Heeats. That is too simple. It would be more accurate to say this fight is between four factions- us, the Margraves, the Heeat, and the northerners."

Lady Parthia held up four of her fingers as she said this, before announcing with a gentle smirk, "Such an arrangement also benefits us. Because in this way, we can use the various forces to tear a chunk of territory and make it a part of Zanzan,"

"I hear you are very interested in the sailors from here. This is your chance. A mere free trade agreement cannot be enough to justify all the resources you are pouring into this, my lord."

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