Herald of Steel

(The following few chapters will focus on various people in Zanzan, leading their lives under Alexander, and their perspective on many of the events organized by their lord.)

"Come on son! Move the carts quickly. Or we are going to be late! The pasha's army is just behind us."

On a well lit, pristine warm morning, a tall, well built man in a well dressed tunic could be heard urging the young man sitting next to him so, wanting him to drive the horses faster.

"Relax father. The pasha is still at least two days march away. What are you getting so worked up about?

The son however seemed to not share the same urgency, and tried to make his old man restrain himself, reassuring him, "We will reach Zanzan today before nightfall…. don't worry! If I go any faster, all the wine jars will break!"

As it could be deduced from the conversation, the duo were wine merchants, transporting Thesalie's most famous specialty- wine, from the Tibian city to Zanzan, carried in tightly packed clay pots and jars, as well as wooden barrels and pulled by horses.

"Bah! The jars will break! What kind of imbecile are you?" The older man, named Jamiz, however, was not to be so easily placated by his son's excuse, as he quickly pointed to his mistake in a scolding tone,

"Look! Look at these roads! What does it look like to you? Does it look like we are in the loonies on some remote mountaintop where the horse will break their legs from one fall?"

And having his gaze diverted by his old man's gesture, the son, named Niloy did indeed turn to look at the path they were traversing.

And the entire thing looked creamy white, almost glimmering under the sunlight, flat like a mirror with few bumps, no potholes, and not even any puddles.

The entire thing appeared like it was one single flat slab of stone extending the entire.

And so Jamiz quickly added in a snapping tone,

"This is so smooth and flat that it looks like it's made from marble. You could roll a ball from Thesalie and it could end up in Zanan no problem!"

"What were you saying the jars will break? The jars will not break even if the horses tripped and tipped the cart over! Hurry up!"

The elderly man here was clearly exaggerating and his son did find his nagging father a bit annoying, thinking that he talked too much and had gone senile.

But still, the son could not help but agree with at least half of what he said.

As it could be deduced from the duo's conversation, they were traveling along the road

connecting Thesalie to Zanzan that Alexander had finished building nearly two years ago, and the stone and concrete construct proved a marvelous spectacle for almost all.

The road was indeed one of a kind in the world.

So traveling on such a smooth tarmac, Niloy could not help but want to urge his horse a bit faster, just to see how fast they could go.

"I wonder how they built it?" And as he thought that, a look of admiration also dawned in his eyes regarding the path, as Niloy could not help but absent mindely muttered so under his breath.

"I heard it's all imported marble. A special kind. From outside!" The son's half rhetorical query was answered by by this, in a nasal and high pitched tone.

But it was not from his father beside him.

It came from his right, from another cart driver who was traveling with them.

For the fathers son pair were not travelling alone.

They were with a group of other merchants forming part of a large caravan, about ten merchants in total, all of whom were filled to the brim with various species of Thesalie, many of which were also battlefield loot they bought from Alexander's soldiers.

And the one giving this reply was one of those merchants, as well as a close business partner of Jamiz.

The man's face turned a bit darker and twisted as he gave his answer, especially when he uttered the word 'outside.'

This of course referred to foreign nations and most native Adhanians did not like interacting with people from outside their country.

The general people found it culturally inappropriate, a mindset developed over centuries by the ruling royal family.

While for the merchants it was more of a territory thing.

Like they were afraid that the foreign merchants would undercut them.

Thus, much of Alexander's foreign trade was seen with skepticism and even a bit of hostility by a large portion of Zanzan.

But no one complained because, one Alexander had too strong a grip on the city, two because, many learned a lot of money doing business with them, and three because some of the goods they brought were truly desirable.

For instance, there was a special type of breed of sheep in Sybarsis's Galiosos legion whose wool was of exceptional quality, like nothing Adhania had.

Then there were the few exclusive luxury incense found nowhere else that was really popular with some of the nobles.

And there were various metal workings from Lady Margaret's territory found to be of very high quality and thus very desirable among many in the city.

Hence most of the complaints regarding Alexander's trade were kept to only venting and harmless banter, as the city slowly broke out of its tradition and accustomed itself to this new, more prosperous way of living.

A mindset that was evidenced by another merchant quickly chipping in following the other's comments.

"Yeah! It has to be marble. What else could all these foreign ships be carrying?" The tone sounded cock sure, then pointing out with a bit of disgust but perhaps much more envy,

"The port is always filled with them! Coming and going like busy bees! And always filled with so much coin! How else do you think they are making so much money?"

He was quickly buttressed in his opinion by a third one from the back, who nodded heavily,

"I agree this explanation. The pasha must be planning to build even more roads like this. That's why he must be building that new port. To house even more of those ships," as he then added some 'critical' information to back up his claim,

"I should know. My son works there. He told me it's way bigger than our current one!"

Thus with all three of the four merchants in Jamiz's close proximity coming to this unanimous conclusion, the old man found himself outnumbered and 'outexplained'.

"Bah! You idiots have never even seen real marble. What would you know?" However that did not mean swallowing what they proposed obediently.

Instead, Jamiz only spat in disgust towards all these 'wrong' answers.

But he did not argue.

Because he could the other three had already made up their minds.

So, instead, lowering his voice a bit, he very confidently relayed the following to his son,

"It's not marble. I have seen marble once. Real marble. It does not look like this," and then confided in him,

"This is made of something called 'white stone'. I heard it from your uncle He has a friend who worked on the road."

"According to him, they made this using a kind of stone produced from that place where the smoke is always coming out. Remember?"

The 'place where the smoke is always coming out' was of course referring to where the cement kilns were located.

And while cement was a white powder, the initial clinkers out of the kilns did look like white stones.

So it seemed somehow during the retelling, the crushing of the cement got omitted and cement became solid stones.

Ah, the magic of spreading through word of mouth.

As for the instance about the road being made of marble, this was actually a false information campaign launched by Alexander, designed to fool at least the visually less discernible people.

For he preferred the people did not know what cement was.

And to try and achieve that effect, Alexander did not even tell the workers at the cement kiln what they were making.

Just that they were making something the Pasha wanted.

And the same with the men working in the crushing mills.

Most did not what they were crushing or where it was all coming from and thought they were mined limestone from the nearby quarries.

Such a light smokescreen of course was not enough to fool nosy nobles, but it was at least enough to stop the general public from making the ingredient a common household term and drawing unnecessary attention to Alexander.

And it worked, as even when Jamiz revealed the truth to his son, the young man did not buy it, finding the 'special marble' explanation more reasonable.

But he did not also argue with his father, and instead only hummed and lightly nodded in an unconvincing manner.

Before quickly changing the subject, asking, "Father, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Do you brat know nothing!"

"The pasha has decided to hold a parade in celebration of his triumph over Tibias. What did he call…. Umm… a triumph. If we do not return soon, we will be too late to set up our shop."

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