Herald of Steel

Despite his best efforts, Remus would ultimately fail in his search for Lord Parker's body. Thus, it would be assumed that the poor man had perished by drowning in the river along with Lord Macht and his entourage.

This would leave Lord Kite the highest living noble from the Heeat sides.

While on the Margraves side, this distinction would be a toss up between Miss Linda, Lord Bernard, or that senior nobleman who had ditched Lord Bakerfield to try and save his own hide.

Yes, he had been captured by the hunting parties a few days later, though he appeared as only a hollow and sunken shell of his former self.

He had been lucky to cross the raging river in his horse, but after two days of staying outdoors without any proper food or shelter, he was hungry and dehydrated nearly to the point of unconsciousness.

He felt like he had lost half his weight and by that point, he was almost happy to get captured, as it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off him.

Alexander would not be too concerned about the Margraves as by this point, they were beaten down to the point of being little more than meat on a chopping.

So whatever negotiations were going to happen, it was going to happen with the Heeats.

Hence Alexander would meet with Lord Kite a few days after the battle, looking to discuss the terms of his surrender.

But the nobleman would simply state that he had no such authority and instead ask,

"Lord Alexander, let us contact the duke. He will send you the appropriate delegation to discuss the terms of our ransom."

The captured nobleman was clearly very eager to earn his freedom.

And fortunately for him, the man would not have to wait too long as Alexander's men would very soon come to report the sighting of a fleet numbering around 15,000 approaching them. Needless to say, these were the reinforcements that Lord Parker had been pinning so much of his hopes on.

The reported numbers would however instantly make all the allies get together to try and figure out what they were going to do about it.

"We should get the fleet ready and attack!" Came as one of the obvious options.

But given his men's lack of expertise in naval battle, Alexander was very reluctant to do this. The battle for the bridge had shown him what his chances of such a victory were- very low.

And many of his officers also shared his concerns, thus countered, "No, we should let the enemy landfall, then strike just as they are getting on shore!"

Alexander was surprised to hear some of his men read out the plot of the Battle of Thermopylae, where the Greeks attacked the landing Persians just like that, thus catching the enemy formations in total disarray.

As for the last group of men, they had another very controversial take, where they called for a diplomatic approach, claiming,

"We should send a delegation to the fleet. Inform them of their main army's defeat. This should make them back down. Remember, they are here to reinforce their forces, not fight us."

Alexander also found the last option the most attractive.

Not only was he frankly sick of fighting, but in this way, he could also effectively use the 11,000 Heeat forces he had as hostages.

Thus he declared, "Send a ship with Lord Kite as a guest. Let him seek an audience with the fleet's commander and relay all that has happened. Then invite him ashore for negotiations."

Alexander ordered this without any fears of Lord Kite running because such a thing was too shameful to do.

He was Alexander's prisoner of war being sent out as a messenger to discuss terms for their ransom and thus it was simply expected that he should return until his ransom was paid.

For violating it would incur the wrath of the gods themselves.

In fact, there was a fun little story about such a thing during the First Punic War.

During one of the battles, the Carthaginians had captured a Roman general, who was then sent to Rome with demands of their surrender.

The Roman senate of course threw the proposal out, but the general who came to deliver the messenger did not stay despite pleading from his fellow senators, as doing such a thing would break his oath and anger the gods.

So he instead willingly went back to Carthage, where he was horribly tortured to death.

And for his heroic deed, he was venerated as a man of immense virtue in Rome for centuries to come.

While although Alexander did not think Lord Kite was that virtuous, he at least trusted the man enough to deliver such a small message. Not to mention, even if Lord Kite ran, it was not like he was the only noble among his prisoners.

So unless the reinforcing Heeats wished to lose so many nobles and then become the main attacking force and conquer the Margraves by force, Alexander was fairly confident this situation could be resolved at the table instead of the battlefield.

It was with that thought that Alexander quickly made the proposal to Lord Kite, who, upon taking an oath with the gods, quickly agreed.

"I'm not sure who the Duke sent as the commander of the relief forces, but I am sure it will be someone very high. I am sure he will be able to negotiate on behalf of the family. It's just that… the lord is quite fond of his son… *sigh*."

The hidden meaning behind these last words was not hard to grasp.

Hearing his son's plea, Duke Heeat must have sent someone experienced and with authority to aid in his campaign, and yet…. the young man had tragically died.

Even if Alexander had nothing to do with it and was simply caused by a force of nature, Lord Kite seemed to suggest to Alexander that he should expect great anger from the family.

"...." Towards this, Alexander did not comment on his outright, but only thought they should take one step at a time.

"My ladies, what should I ask for in the negotiations?"

As Lord Kite got ready to bring his superior to shore, Alexander quickly sought a private audience from the two queens, wishing to hear their thoughts on how to proceed from here.

"Hahaha! We have gained much more than I originally thought!" The one to speak out first was Lady Parthia, her plump, red lips curving up to reveal a very pleased expression, "I thought at best we would get Lord Parker to surrender. But for him to die so conveniently… heh heh!"

That sweet, low chuckle was so soft yet so cold, as the queen first congratulated Alexander on his win.

Then suddenly straightening her languid, curvy body, Lady Parthia announced in a memorized, dictatorial tone, "From what I see there are four options for you to choose!"

"One- You can insist on the original terms…. i.e.- the Heeats leave the island, you let Lady Miranda take over the Margraves and the two of you return to simply being business partners with a simple free trade agreement. I believe I do not need to tell you why this is also the worst option."

Lady Parthia was very sharp in her last few words as if childing her son over even thinking about this option. And indeed, after what he did and how much risk Alexander took, a simple 'back to the status quo' was too little for Alexander.

"Mmmm!" The curt nod from the man thus pleased the immaculate mature woman.

The former Tibian queen then continued, now raising her dainty long finger and showing her long, shapely fingernail that was painted bright red,

"The second option is for you to marry Lady Miranda and make the Margraves a part of your family."

And Alexander's lips instantly twitched a bit at hearing the option.

This was perhaps one of the most obvious options but also one that he was most reluctant to do.

There were too many personal and political reasons for this.

Personally, he did not find Lady Miranda that attractive. Personality wise, there was her indecisiveness and general demeanor.

And in terms of looks, not only was she relatively ordinary, but more than that, even since the death of her son, she had also started letting her figure go.

She was too plump in his opinion.

But if that was the only barrier, Alexander still might have swallowed his pride and bit the bullet, swearing to himself that political benefits must always trump personal likes or dislikes.

The problem was the political challenges of such a union were perhaps even higher than the opinions of the two individuals.

This was also understood by Lady Parthia.

Hence as soon as she proposed her option, she quickly added before Alexander would get any words of objection,

"But I also do not recommend this option. It is hard to imagine the monogamous Margraves family accepting their head be not only married to another country's lord, but even be just one of several wives. The elders will never accept such an unfair deal."

"Mmmm… not to mention the problems of where we will live, here or in Zanzan." Another problem was swiftly added by a muttering Alexander.

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

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