Herald of Steel

"The Iyizardians are notorious for their brutal hunting of pirates. The shores of the country are lined with the skeletons of hanged me. If my grandfather learns of me… he will never accept it."

"Hehehe, no before that, who knows if he is still alive? It's been almost forty years since mother ran away. I guess never meeting was best for the both of us."

Vidiyan half stated, half lamented this fact, as perhaps a small part of him still thought he had some claim to that family.

At least he could have been a noble then.

While Alexander listened to this with an almost pallid mask of disconcern.

He was surprised to know the man before him was nearly forty- he did not look a day over thirty, the sea surprisingly making him appear more youthful, not aged.

But more than that, he found this was a bit regretful.

If you have not guessed it already, Alexander did not want to connect Vidiyan with his family out of the goodness of the heart.

He wanted to do it because he thought this would give him an easy way for his spies to infiltrate the country.

He wished to have at least some intelligence on what was going on there.

But clearly, that was not going to happen.

So finding he had no other matters to discuss, Alexander got up and generously smiled at the captain,

"I see. Well, thank you for sharing your experiences with me Captain Vidiyan. I learned a lot about pirates from you. Please come see me at Zanzan in a few weeks. I will give you the details of your duties."

The pirate Vidiyan silently let out a large sigh of relief hearing this, understanding the meeting was finally over.

He passed!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yes, yes, of course, my lord. Here is to us working long into the foreseeable future." Eagerly raising a toast with a great grin, he gulped the entire thing down.

He needed this to cool his excited nerves, or else he feared he might start jumping for joy.

He had really not expected to get this much.

"I have also prepared for a small gift my lord. If you would allow me to bring her to you." So he then chimed, a suggestive look flashing over.

And the wording used left Alexander in no doubt as to what this present could be.

He wanted to reject this as a knee jerk response. He had enough women to deal with in his life.

But then suddenly felt this might be seen as a bit rude.

It was considered common courtesy to accept any gift no matter how small when graciously presented.

So as to not start off on the wrong foot and since the other side was offering, he decided to accept it with a grateful smile.

If he did not like her, he could always set her free or give her away as a present.

The lady in question was led by a man very similar looking to Vidiyan, his son no doubt.

And as the two bowed, Alexander found his gift to be breathtakingly beautiful.

The girl looked to be in her late teens, with an innocent face and flushed rosy cheeks, thin luscious lips, and a cute dimple on her chin.

But what really caught his eyes was her hair- it was golden wheat in color and so silky that it looked like golden thread when under the summer sun.

They were only perhaps a tad bit lighter than Ophenia's natural color and were curled into expensive ringlets just like practiced in Iyizarid making her look like she was the epitome of aristocracy.

Alexander thought she only looked slightly worse than Ophenia, and even then it was such a small difference that he could not help but swallow a small gulp, 'Man, I did not Tayin had a younger sister.'

And as he said this, his eyes suddenly roamed around to the girl's lower half with a spark of lust, a particular sight he had once seen back in one of the city states of Thesos rushing back to him.

On that day, one slave merchant was showing off exactly these kinds of curls of a captured high born lady.

He was even brazen enough to unabashedly show her lower half, pointing at her thick, well groomed patch down there and showing off how curly and thick it was.

According to the man, noblewomen in Iyizarid spent more than half the day with their comb and clips, trying to curl their hair more and more every waking second.

And apparently, they did this for even their hair down there- with the longer and denser it was- the higher quality it was.

This was also what the man was trying to show, that his 'product' had the best hair.

And even though most of the gathered people could tell the man was exaggerating, it did not stop them from being enthralled by this display.

Something which the slaver also took full advantage of, crying out to the gathering crowd,

"Come! Come! Do not be shy. Look as much as you like. This is a noble lady from Iyizarid! Her family was destroyed by the Sybarian army and she was captured."

"Come! Come! See! Such a fine piece… there is none like her! Just don't touch if you are not going to buy! Bidding starts at…."

Alexander remembered watching how the bound lady tried her best to bite her lips to stop herself from breaking down at the utter humiliation of being shown like this.

Alexander had truly felt sorry for her- and thought back then if he had the money, he might have even considered buying her.

She was certainly attractive enough, with her curly hair adding a sort of novelty that Alexander had yet to see.

Even when he took his post in Zanzan, he occasionally yet his eyes open, but never such a girl.

So now that he had…. he genuinely wondered if the blonde hair down there was like her top.

….

Vidiyan introduced the girl as 'Arrya'.

She was apparently traveling to meet some of her relatives but was unlucky enough to get caught in one of Vidiyan's raids.

She was planned to be sold to one of the pirate captain's known slavers but it seemed fate had other plans, as Vidiyan finished by gently smiling,

"My lord, rest assured, she is a virgin. We would never spoil such a precious commodity."

Alexander thanked the pirate captain for his gift, seeing the man off with a barrel of his special wine as a return gift.

Then as soon as the man left…

"What do you think my lady?" He ran to consult Lady Parthia about all that had happened.

Although he was confident about his decision to recruit Vidiyan, he still wished for a second opinion.

"....Hmm!" And hearing all that had transpired, the lady in question hummed a bit in thought, before at last mumbling,

"Well…he has the motivation. His men surely need the money. He also surrendered his entire crew to you before coming here, that seems sincere enough. Let's see how this goes."

According to Lady Parthia, there seemed little problem in shaking hands with Vidiyan even if things did not pan out in the future.

This was also Alexander's exact thought, which was why with an agreeing nod, he moved on to the real topic,

"Then what about the Heeat family? What do I do with them? What happens to all my deals?"

"Isn't it obvious? Pretend like this did not happen and play along," Lady Parthia's advice was the same as Alexander thought.

And although he did not like it, he could not argue it.

So he turned silent with a large frown.

And this let Lady Parthia take her turn, "Have you found from the pirate why the Heeats wants to kill you?"

"No. They only got the order, no one asked for an explanation. Perhaps only that baron knew." Alexander sounded a bit bitter as he commented, perhaps thinking he should have kept the man alive for further interrogation.

"Unlikely. He was just likely told he could keep his city if he killed you," Lady Parthia however seemed to disagree, accurately judging the man to be as much a pawn as the pirate captain, and chiming, "I am more interested knowing how they managed to do this right under our nose."

"It had to Linda! Or at least one of those old coots!" Alexander solemnly declared, his eyes blazing with anger.

He could think no one else with the necessary political clout needed to make the two previously unknown parties work so seamlessly so quickly.

"Do not count Lady Miranda out as well. She might not have a strong motive… but she could have done it," While Lady Parthia additionally warned, urging him not to overlook anyone.

"...." Alexander did not refute her, only frowned. Yes, she was also a possible candidate.

Which only sent his mood further into a nadir

And perhaps sensing this, Lady Parthia suddenly chirped up in a consoling tone,

"Actually we might be considered lucky. Logically the order to assassinate you should have been retracted after Baron Lamp's demise. There is no one it could be done. But I suspect someone in the middle insisted without Lord Castell's knowledge. Hahaha."

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

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