Herald of Steel

Alexander's ship made port around midday on a warm, summer noon, closing in towards a large crescent shaped bay made of white shimmering concrete floors and robust wooden quays.

From his deck, he found the place to be filled with numerous ships of various sizes- tall, square-rigged merchant vessels, smaller colorful fishing boats, and even some medium sized triremes and quadrimes belonging to slavers and raiders were currently docked, rocking gently with the ebb and flow of the waters, their huge masts towering overhead like giant trees in a forest of sails and rigging.

All these ships were being attended to by a small army of hurried laborers, porters and dockworkers, shouting all kinds of orders and even crude curses as they loaded and unloaded the goods.

Zanzan was a great importer of things of like spices- with pepper, ginger and a mint like plant called rea being the biggest ones, various exotic wines and drinks, high quality and colorful linen and fur clothes, various type of grains- wheat, oat, barley, large, high quality cuts of timber and even gold and gems— the last item usually belonging to either jewelry merchants or nobles receiving taxes from their lands.

These goods were placed in various types of wooden crates and barrels, linen sacks, or even earthen pottery, all of which were slowly and manually unloaded one by one by hand.

These were all being unloaded.

While things like various metal tools- hammers, nails, plows, saws, pots and pans, knives, refined iron ingots, glass, porcelain, and luxury soap were being loaded onto the waiting ships using huge manual cranes.

Alexander had long ago standardized his crate sizes, allowing for his products to be easily attached to the thick crane hooks and lifted into place like wooden containers, making the entire process such efficient.

…..

Given the sheer size of Alexander's fleet, most of the docked ships were asked to stop their operations and either leave the port or at least make way to the sides for the time, giving precedence to the arriving army.

while the dockworkers were put to work unloading the various loots and gifts he had brought.

And as the ships unloaded their cargo- both men and material, the place soon began to teem with people.

Many of the gathered people were the families of returning soldiers, eager to meet them, while many more were there to see the spectacle.

They did not know even why their lord was gone for nearly a year or that he had made new conquests, but that did not matter.

They were here to see the 'show' as tens of huge warships lined against the wooden pier, extending their ramps and letting thousands of men disembark in their full regalia, clad in heavy blue armor from head to toe with shield on one hand and a shining sword as their hips.

That heroic sight alone would cause many children in the crowd to join the army in the future.

Following the soldiers were some of the camp servants, carrying various eye catching gifts and loot- like gold and silver plates, many types of glass products, and even various religious relics.

Beautiful slaves, livestock, and even the new blacksmiths and sailors were shown off as proof of Alexander's great victory.

This flaunting of wealth caused earth shaking roars to erupt from the crowds, as they eagerly waited for the taverns and bars to be filled with tales of their lord's heroic victory.

It had to be said, that Alexander really knew how to put on a show for his people.

And in return for this entertainment, they also treated him as a celebrity.

Their roars thundered across the sky as his personal ship finally made port, and it reached a deafening crescendo when they saw him disembark alongside a stunningly dressed mature lady with luscious curvy hair.

"Is that the lord's new concubine?"

"Possibly! She sure is pretty. I wish my wife was half as beautiful."

"Heh! Keep dreaming bastard. As if your old thing could ever compare to the pasha's mistress."

"Right brother. You know sister in law's temper. You are lucky she is not here to listen."

"Hmmp! If you ever want to enter my house you better keep your mouth shut. But really, why does she look like I have seen before? I could swear I have seen her before."

"Hmmm, now that you mention it, she does seem a bit familiar. Is she one of the Lord's wives?" "Perhaps she is Lady Cambyses."

"Possibly! Possibly! Look! Look! They are getting down side by side. It has to be her!"

"Tsk, she really is ten times better than mine. I don't think she even looks at the lord wrong."

"Heh, of course, of course, the lord is a dragon among men. How can he be like an old thing you?"

"I don't see why you are gloating. Didn't you come tails tucked between your legs to my home when she threw you out for sleeping with that whore."

"Shhh! Shhh! Don't talk about that so loud!"

As many of you could have guessed, the lady accompanying Alexander was certainly not his wife- it was Lady Nanazin.

And the reason for the crowd's misunderstanding was because one, they rarely saw Alexander's wives and could hardly tell them apart.

And two, the pair descended from the wooden ramp together.

This might have been extremely improper at any other time- for a lady to accompany another man like this who was not her husband.

But this time Alexander was actually following proper protocol for the queen of Adhania, being part of the royal family, and was always expected to walk side by side with any nobleman.

This was because walking behind them was seen as throwing shade at the royal family.

The misunderstanding only arose as this protocol took for granted that the queen would never be traveling alone, that she would always be accompanied by her husband- the king, son, or even just a close fatherly figure like an uncle.

So without that presence, many in the crowd mistook the pair as an item.

Lady Nanazin was more than happy to let these rumors spread, and as she descended, she even waved her hands toward the crowd, a stunning and equally calculated smile plastering her face.

While feeling her overtly friendly manner in front of the crowd, Alexander put on a far more forced face, a small headache hammering into his head.

He had no idea that Adhania had such a rule about nobles and disembarking ships.

So when Lady Nanazin initially came to tell him about the whole thing, knowing the stir it would cause, his first instinct was to think she was making the whole thing up.

But the lady swore it was true, and looking at her face, Alexander knew she was telling the truth. Besides if she lied, it would have been all too easy to find out later and the repercussions of that were clear as day to anyone.

Lady Nanazin's entire livelihood depended solely on Alexander's grace.

So although he was a bit uncomfortable, he followed the protocol that was expected of him, and hand in hand with the queen gently stepped onto the solid concrete docks.

"Welcome my lord. Welcome Your Highness. We are all glad to see you in both health!"

There he was instantly met by the city's entire delegation of nobles led by the elderly Menicus.

"We congratulate the Pasha on your great victory. We at Zanzan have been toasting day and night at your miraculous triumph."

"Yes, the temples have been filled with prayers of gratitude and offerings, Hahaha, you are truly blessed by the gods!"

"Haha, yes, yes, this is the first time our country has extended its borders towards the Central Sea. The Lord is truly blessed. And we are blessed to follow you."

Even Alexander was a bit taken back by the sheer sweetness of the flattery here.

It was like many of the nobles could not wait to kneel down and grovel down in sycophancy.

The extent of the whole thing made it somewhat baffled, and he thought his ears tasted bitter.

But what Alexander did not know was that the reports of his victory were grossly exaggerated by Cambyses, who was under the impression that Alexander had fought off the combined might of the Margraves, Heeats, and the natives and taken over half of the entire island.

Now, this was not due to any real fault of her own.

Alexander's only method of communication withZanzan was using carrier pigeons and because of the succinct and very condensed nature of the messages, she and even the entire council just misunderstood them, thus leading to this hilarious encounter.

And unaware of this, Alexander simply chalked up the whole thing to them being a bit too emotional after seeing him after so long.

"It is good to see you too, my lords. I hope Zanzan has been peaceful with your presence?" Alexander chimed, and then for the next few minutes tried to get a handle on the most basic of developments.

Until Menicus decided this was hardly a place for such discussion and gently offered,

"Hahaha, my lord is truly a paragon among men, caring about his city the moment he set foot. Why don't we take you for a tour tomorrow?"

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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