Herald of Steel

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Lady Parthia silently watched Alexander addressing the crowd from the sides with a complicated look, the sound of enormous cheers smashing into her ears to the point it almost hurt.

Excited words like 'food', 'clothes', 'wine', and 'whores', new vocabulary which she had recently picked up entered her sense, telling her the plans people were already starting to make with their new promised bonus.

And although she did not like to admit it, she recognized Alexander's much softer approach was quite a bit better than her own coarse plan of just snatching and dashing from the city.

It left fewer people anatogized and still left the door open for future development- even if Alexander stabbed these people in the back, as long as it was a grievous wound, they would likely forget in a few years.

And this 'modification' to her plan, clearly told the queen that Alexander was no puppet who simply swallowed whatever she fed him.

This left her feeling both impressed and a bit peeved.

While Lady Parthia was assessing her new boss over his decisions, another group in question- the nobles, were totally enraged by them.

If before they thought Alexander was simply trying to put them in their place by trying to extort them, well this blatant theft put that comforting idea fully to rest.

"We must stop this!" One of the leaders shouted out aloud, waving his fist almost as a rallying cry.

"Right! Let's…."

"Wooo!"

But before they could gather themselves, another large cry rang out from the crowd, and this time it was because of the appearance of three new men!

Hunched and bound at the hands and feet, they were dirty and disheveled, wearing clothes that were ragged and filthy.

It was clear they were in very bad shape, struggling to even stay still without falling over.

However such 'small' details hardly detracted anyone from the main point- that they instantly recognized them.

They were too famous here as not to- Baron Lamp and his two most trusted lieutenants.

Both the people and nobles were shocked to see them and felt their eyes almost pop out at the state of their appearance,

"Is that… the lord? By the gods! What happened?"

"Wha… what is going on?"

"Why are they like this?"

"Ho.. how is this happening?"

"He dares! He dares insult us like this!"

"Alexander told us he and father were just talking about how the city worked! Wh… why?"

"Quick! Get the guards! We must stop this!"

While the common people only expressed disbelief, the nobles let out gasps of utter rage, with some of them even asking their family guards to make a path toward the podium.

All while Alexander continued on with his plan, addressing the people as the three were made to kneel facing them-

"My people! I am sure all of you recognize these men. They are Baron Cuttle Lamp, Ser Rick Grave, and Kyle Moment. Together they have ruled for Midshire like kings!"

"But under my expert questioning, they have all confessed to numerous crimes, be they colluding with enemies of House Margraves, committing rape, being accessory to murder, banditry, acceptance of bribes and in general exhorting the people of Midshire for their own personal gain."

Alexander dramatically waved a piece of paper as he said, dazzling the crowd with his evidence.

The common men had perhaps heard, but never actually seen a lord be judged in front of them like this.

So they were astounded by the grievous charges brought for him, finding it too hard to equate the men in front of the kneeling and weeping as capable of committing so many heinous crimes- the same men they saw as almost gods, high and unfillable.

As for what was actually written on the paper itself- well it was simply a list of crimes Alexander came up with on a whim and then had them 'signed'.

As for how the three were made to give up their initials- well I will leave the creative process to the readers.

Needless to say, it was certainly not pleasant.

But Alexander did not care.

After knowing some of the things they actually had done- Alexander even felt letting them die with 'dignity' like this him being lenient.

Blackmail, extortion, driving people out of their livelihoods, miscarriage of justice- although these might not sound as grand as the official charges, they were still grave enough to make them damned.

Thus these were no innocent sheep Alexander was sacrificing- but sinful snakes.

Revealing the charges, Alexander did not keep things hanging and declared the climax of the performance,

"Thus by the decree of Lady Miranda, Head of House Margraves, on charges of corruption and treason, I order all three of them to be executed… right away!"

"Stop!"

"What you doing?"

"This… no!"

"Father!"

The nobles were astounded for the umpteen time this morning at the sudden turn of events, their eyes bulging to the point of popping out at the eye sockets.

They could not believe their eyes as three swords were raised above the heads of their closest kin and ally, and

*Chop!*, *Chop!*, *Chop!*n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

*Plop*, *Plop*, *Plop*,

Before any of them could do anything, all three were decapitated with single, skilled slashes- not at all an easy feat given you had to cut through the tough spinal bone in smooth swing.

So the act laid testament to the sharpness of the swords and the skill of their wielders, leaving the entire crowd breathless- in equal parts awe and shock.

Alexander watched the bloody heads slowly roll off the makeshift stage with a nonchalant facade as if it were the most common sight.

He showed no pleasure or satisfaction over the execution.

While the surrounding people were far more affected, their eyes soon waking up to the incident and widening in shock.

They were perhaps more afraid than angry or dissatisfied, as seen by how they leaped away from the head that fell to the ground in front of them like it was some kind of bomb.

.....

Up until that point, everything had gone according to Alexander's plan.

And he was just about to start a second batch of executions with the rest of the captives when…

"Ahhhh! What are you doing?

"Murder! Murder!"

"Run! Run! There is a madman! Madman!"

"It's the guards! The guards have all gone insan… ahhhh!"

"Run! Run!"

Even Alexander could not see what was happening exactly, but it seemed some of the nobles were so utterly enraged by the death of their lord that they had roared to their guards to get Alexander's head no matter what, even if it meant cutting through the crowd.

And some of the idiots actually listened, crazily swinging their swords and hacking one of the bloodiest routes possible.

This instantly caused massive panic among the packed men, who began to wildly try and flee the carnage.

Problem was everyone was packed like sardines- 20,000 almost 30,000 men rammed into the tiny marketplace.

And this was done not just because of the limited space, it was also by design.

Without modern microphones, everyone needed to get as close as possible if they wanted to hear anything Alexander was saying.

All this led to the whole thing suddenly developing into a crushing stampede as people pushed, shoved, punched, knocked down, and shoulders their fellow men, trying to make as much distance as possible from the approaching mass of doom.

"Alexander! We need to go! Now!" And as the manic tide of men chaotically turned towards him Hemicus fiercely grabbed his 'target' by the arm and yanked him off the stage.

He did not even give Alexander any chance to protest, instead quickly cocooning the man and a few others accompanying him like Lady Parthia in a layered ring of roughly 60 armed men and ordering them to 'breakout'.

Now, to be honest, there was no realistic chance of Alexander getting assassinated here.

He had always taken his own security very seriously, never being without at least 10 men with him when he was out, such as when he was visiting the bathhouse while increasing that number anywhere from 50 to a maximum of 500 men when he was attending a public event.

And when you combine these large numbers with the thick shields and drawn swords these elite soldiers wielded and the goal of getting Alexander's head for the attacking guards was little more than a fool's errand.

Hemicus was not worried about that.

What he was worried about was getting caught in the middle of the stampede and being literally crushed to death.

This was a real possibility- 50 men were little more than a peddle in front of an ocean of tens of thousands.

The only got news was that given the whole crowd was standing facing the podium, it left the back totally 'open'.

So with enough speed and decisiveness, Alexander and company were able to carve a path through the still sparsely populated side relatively easily.

I said relatively because many of the swords in the outer rings were still dyed with crimson blood- containing the essence of many maddened or heedless men who in their confusion had tried to approach Alexander, only to be mercilessly cut down.

"This… this is not what I had in mind!" Alexander bitterly cried after seeing the aftermath.

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

Please come Here!

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