Herald of Steel

Pasha Farzah determined that even the danger of internal rebellion and attack by the royal forces was worth it if it meant getting his granddaughters.

And he expressed such sentiment by saying, "Yea, it seems that we have reached a stalemate."

"And does the pasha have a preferred way to resolve this deadlock?" Alexander raised an eyebrow as he asked this.

"Give me Azira and Azura and I promise to help your economy. I will even donate five hundred million roplas to jump-start your economy," Pasha Farzah made a sky-shattering offer that sent Alexander's heart beating wildly.

And the pasha then complimented his carrot with a stick, "Refuse, and you will have turned an ally into an enemy, the very anthesis of what you wanted."

Alexander went silent for a while after hearing the proposal, his brain furiously calculating the pros and cons.

But ultimately, the astounding amount of five hundred million roplas served to only strengthen his resolve to get the twins.

'If you are willing to dish out so much for them, they must even more valuable! I won't let my greed blind me,' Alexander's eyes flashed with a chilly light.

"I have ten thousand men," Alexander then sent a naked threat.

He was done playing nice.

But this only made Pasha Farzah laugh uproariously as if he had heard the biggest joke in his life, "Hahaha, is that the best you got brat?"

His full-bearded grin then turned to look like he was an enraged bear as he smashed his thick as logs arms on the table and snarled, "Well, then lanky brat. We are all alone in his room. How long do you think it will take me to snap that tiny little skull of yours? Huh?"

The pasha then started clenching his huge palms, big enough to cover Alexander's face, open and closed, in a menacing gesture as if to emulate crushing Alexander's head.

"Haha, the pasha is being too polite," Alexander only let out a light chuckle, unafraid and unperturbed, "All the esteemed lord do is express his desire and I will snap my tiny, little skull myself."

This was the same answer he gave when Farzah had threatened to cut off his tongue.

But unlike before, now his light joke didn't lighten the atmosphere in the room.

On the contrary, it only engaged the pasha even more as he felt he was being underestimated and belittled.

He really was contemplating killing this cub in the crib.

But Alexander's next bought some sense back to him, "What will killing me get you? Do you think that after I die, all the soldiers under me will forgive and forget just because you will be dangling a coin purse before them? Just because they are mercenaries?" Alexander sneered.

And then the mercenary leader changed his voice to a flat, monotone octave as he recounted, "When I went to battle Amenheraft outside the city, I left five hundred of my guys to guard the palace and put my wife in charge. Do you know what my last words were to her?"

Alexander posed a rhetorical question.

"At the first sign of a revolt, kill the entire royal family and set the palace on fire as a smoke signal," Alexander no longer had the warm, cordial face he had always maintained, but instead replaced it with a hard, crazed look.

"....." A strange, uncomfortable silence descended on the room, as the two men were locked in a menacing death gaze at each other, the air smelling like it had become saturated with the smell of gunpowder and the tiniest spark could send the whole thing to kingdom come.

"So, you see, you have much more to lose than me," It was Alexander who broke the tense atmosphere as his fierce countenance swiftly changed to that of a friendly, gentle demeanor and he sent a cordial smile toward the pasha.

'I kill him, he kills them and me. One for three,' Pasha Farzah did the simple math.

So, he straightened his hunched back and tried to call Alexander's bluff, "The battle's already over. And you seem to trust that your men will follow the orders of a woman."

But Alexander called it, "Then do it. Maybe you can give them more than the literal billions of roplas that's just downstairs."

"..." Another round of stifling silence followed as the pasha tried to use his vast years of experience spent dealing with others to look for signs of weakness in Alexander.

But Alexander appeared steady as a rock.

Half because he was that good, half because he trusted his pupil to know what to do.

Cambyses was no sheep, but a wolf in pig skin.

The silence lasted for a while, with neither side willing to back down.

But the soldiers advantage was on Alexander's side, so ultimately, it was Pasha Farzah who broke first, unable to take that chance against his two precious pieces of heart.

He had been over the moon when Ptolomy had written to him saying Azira and Azura were not only with him but also unharmed and well.

He was so excited in fact that he made the almost two-thousand-kilometer journey like his butt had been set on fire, rushing to secure his granddaughters as fast as possible.

The reason for this urgency was because he had never been able to devise a good enough strategy with which he was confident in being able to force Amenheraft to give up Azira and Azura.

And so, now that through the machinations of fate and a bit of Amenheraft's cruelty, he had finally managed to get his hands on his beloved granddaughters, he was not stupid enough to gamble the safety of them against a deranged, half-sociopathic, lunatic.

"You wanted a compromise. So let me offer you one," Pasha Farzah clenched out the words as if he was having a hard time speaking.

But the man persevered, "Instead of Azira and Azura, let me offer you someone closer to me, my daughter. She has come with me here, maybe you have noticed."

And then quickly added, "And I'm aware one for two is not a fair trade. So I'm willing to offer her two maids as an additional compromise."

The pasha made a face that seemed to imply that his heart was being ripped apart by the 'tough decision' but Alexander did not grace that offer with even a sneer.

Instead, he replied in a robotic voice, "That's not a compromise. That's not even an offer."

His octaves then rapidly picked up with each successive question, "Does your daughter call Amenheraft father? Does your daughter call the king uncle? Did you launch a rebellion to save your daughter?"

He then sneered, "And besides, haven't you heard the saying, 'Children are what you have only to get grandchildren? The clue is in the name- 'grand'."

"Pffff,...hahahaha," This time pasha let out a genuine cry of laughter, finding the joke truly funny as the tense atmosphere slowly melted away.

"Brat, I'm starting to like you, hahaha" Pasha Farzah admitted with a candid smile.

Of course, it was just not this joke, but Alexander's eloquence, frightening insight, and how he brushed off his hundred million ropals bribe.

The pasha doubted himself if he could have done what Alexander had done if their positions had been switched.

This amount of willpower had gained the old noble's respect.

"So, what's your offer?" Pasha Farzah asked as he tapped his table.

"I'm sure the lord has heard about the arrangement between princess Hellma and the Queen mother," Alexander started with a light smile.

"I'm willing to propose a similar arrangement with them, five years as my guest, a letter a month and I will not let anyone lay a finger on them." Alexander gave his counterproposal.

And this softer condition, combined with the current reality finally pleased the pasha enough as he consented with a nod, "Good, that works."

But then, he quickly added, "But I want my daughter and her two maids to accompany them. To ensure you keep your word."

"That's fine," Alexander had no problem with that, though internally he lampooned, 'I hope that manor has enough bedrooms.' as by his count his house would have twelve members. with eleven of them being women.

"And remember that if anything happens to them, it's war!" The bellicose pasha finished with a threat.

But Alexander, instead of replying with hackneyed sayings like 'I won't let any harm fall on them,' he instead said, "Life and death is up to the gods. No one can predict how and where one will die."

And then he solemnly claimed, "But I can promise you that they will stay in the same house as me, sharing the same roof, the same food, and the same space as me and my family. So, any fate they share, me and my family will too."

In this way, Alexander left himself a way out if by some unknown cosmic forces something were to happen to the twins.

"Hmmm, good. I will hold you onto that!" Pasha Farzah pursed his lips but ultimately nodded.

Then he added, "Well, it's getting late and I have a few things I need to attend to,"

By saying this, he signaled that the talks were over, and so with a bow, Alexander showed himself out, saying the Adhanian saying, "Till we meet again, let health and joy keep you company."

And as Alexander thought back on the past few hours, he remarked, 'Sigh, that old fart was one tough cookie.'

But ultimately he was very happy with the deal he got and was eager to get supper.