HERALD OF STEEL

Being a theocratic country, the people of Adhania were extremely superstitious by nature, finding hidden meanings in almost everything, even in the most mundane of events.

So it was almost a ritual for them to have their fates read during this auspicious period, either by professional diviners or for those who could afford, even by priests and priestesses from the temples, their special robes making them the most trusted of the bunch.

Thus, this time during the Jtaama would be like their ‘end of the year bonus’ period, where they made more than ninety percent of the whole year’s income in just these few days.

The more popular priests and diviners would sometimes be able to barely even catch their breath, as they would be swamped with eager customers all day long, all desperately hoping for various things.

The most common of this was of course good weather and a good harvest, and given ninety percent of the people were peasants by trade, this was hardly surprising.

This was then followed by, in no particular order, a happy family, good health, increase in wealth, success in the pursuit of love and many more miscellaneous prayers.

Towards all these requests, the diviners and priests had to play a delicate game, making predictions positive enough to make the clients happy in this time of festivities, but not so optimistic that it might come back to bite them in the back next year.

The most successful ones were those who could perfectly juggle this great game of words, giving readings that were concrete enough to be believed they were auspicious, but somehow also vague enough that it could be interpreted in various ways.

For example- a true expert might say something like- “Hmmm, I see your fate for the next year is like a tall tree, sturdy and rising high up into the sky above all others, encountering all kinds of strong, favorable winds.’

Now, this usually would be seen as a very good reading, one promising the honor of exceeding his rivals and encountering fortuitous windfall.

But conversely, one could say these strong winds really meant a storm, and the vision of a tall tree was an ill omen as it is the tallest tree that is always the first one to be knocked over during a disaster.

In this way, the really skilled performers were able to cleverly hedge their bets on both sides.

Divination was really a great form of art, one that required high levels of talent and sophistry to succeed.

Now, Alexander personally had always abhorred such practices. He of course did not believe a shred of anything that came out of their mouth- even if somehow came true the next day.

‘Even a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day,’ He snorted.

He thus believed everything that any seer has ever claimed to have foreseen was simply survivorship bias, just like if you were to throw a thousand darts at the board, a few would hit the bullseye by the consequence of sheer probability.

Hence he thought all those from this profession to be bloodsuckers and swindlers, who wasted people’s money and produced anything of tangible value.

The pasha would have much preferred if his people on actual things like clothes, food, and other entertainment, something that could be shared with the whole family.

Yet, despite his personal feelings, he did not plan on doing anything about this.

He understood this was a deeply ingrained custom of the lands and besides, it was not exactly wasted money per se.

These readings in a way brought psychological comfort to the people, so one could even go as far as to say they were a kind of therapy session.

And living in such hard times, the people truly needed such a crutch to rely on if they wished to stop themselves from falling into despair, no matter if that support was real or illusory.

Hence Alexander just watched the gathered people from atop a small mound, as dressed in their finest robes they bought and sold all types of rare goods that were not seen all the year around, ate all kinds of exotic and expensive dishes they got to taste only once a year, and played all kinds of games for various prizes.

…..

As Alexander approached the city’s suburbs, the sudden appearance of his huge unknown army, armed to the teeth, produced a variety of emotions among the fair goers.

The most obvious one was of course, fear and panic, as many felt half their soul leave their bodies- ‘Oh by Ramuh! Has one of the kings decided to attack now? Are they going to slaughter us during such a sacred time to the year!’

Most of those present here were mostly the wealthier folks of the country- otherwise they would not have had the money to afford this long and expensive trip.

Hence they were learned and informed enough to know some of the dealings at the court- such as the conflict between the two brothers and how the civil war was still on going, it was currently only held in pause.

So the sight of an army fully armored in blue, shields on one hand, wielding a blue flower on a white banner, made them quickly think the ceasefire had come to an end.

Others were more confused and curious than afraid, asking themselves what was happening or which great lord was approaching that it warranted such a huge procession.

And lastly there was one group who was almost unmoved.

They were either really ‘uncreative’ people who did not even think there was a possibility of any such attack as these were sacred grounds unviolable to all, or those well connected enough to be already in the know.

After all, Alexander had landed in Agnirat a few days ago and his march here was not exactly hidden.

Fortunately, although many were panicked, the people as a whole did not sink too much into fear and chaos as most of the people were more shocked than afraid, believing an attack on them during such a sacred time was impossible.

They were also used to seeing various lords with their large entourages enter the city gates, and so as the legionaries entered the fair premises, the people sensibly gave them a very wide berth.

While the armed men also made no overtly threatening gestures, as Alexander had little will to cause any trouble for these innocent revellers.

He even left them to their celebrations as soon as the scouts he had already sent ahead quickly came with reports of a suitable place to camp.

It was a few kilometers west of the city walls, right next to a very large, wooded pond, the entire place being fed by the spring water coming from one of the many hills that Adhan sat upon.

“Order the men to first set up tent and get a fire going. All of them must be starving after the long march.” Then upon reaching the site, Alexander instantly ordered Menes as such, he himself feeling a rumbling growl in his stomach.

Although he had ridden on a horse here, the close to eight hours of nonstop marching had still left the man famished.

Now think about those who had to walk with 20 to 30 kilos of weight on their back.

The fact that everyone covered the distance with little to no complaining went to exactly show just how tough these men were. The harsh environment of the time really produced strong, hardy men.

While the men quickly and eagerly started to get all this going, Alexander once again met with Menes and continued to add more, future pending orders,

“Tonight, the men can just dig a ditch around the perimeter and keep guard. It is too late to set up the walls now. Start properly setting up the camp tomorrow. The lumber should be easy to gather- look, I intentionally chose a place with lots of wood nearby.” He pointed to the lush, green, forested area around the pond as he said so.

Now, usually the legions carried all their lumber with them on huge wagons- because naturally they were not going to cut down trees and make fresh new walls every day.

It would have been taken away too long otherwise- chopping the required hundreds of trees, shaving the bark and all the greenery, and then properly shaping the stump, sharpening the ends into pointy bits, Alexander would have needed an army of lumberjacks and carpenters just for this.

And that was if they could find the suitable lumber- it was not like every place had a huge number of good quality timber like oak and ash, all vanished and dried, just ready to be cut and processed.

But this time, due to time and space constraints, as well as knowing the area had an abundance of wood, Alexander decided to lighten his load and skipped lugging this heavy burden.

In fact, this was one of the main reasons he got here so quickly. The mules only had to lug the tents and food.

Following this, Alexander lastly tapped Menes on the shoulder and smiled,

“Try to finish it by the end of the week. I want the whole camp to be just like the one he had in Galiosos- hardened with thick walls and large wooden spikes in wide ditches. Remember the men will be staying the whole winter here and it gets very cold around the parts. So everything has to be very warm and sturdy.”

“Yes, my lord, rest assured.”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!