Herald of Steel

Although Alexander's offer appeared very enticing to Metztil, at the last moment, he brought up the objection that even though he liked this, his people were very unlikely to accept.

They were expecting the full sovereignty of the place.

"Your people will reject free land?" Alexander sounded half stunned by this because he was unable to fathom how would the people reject free land.

He began to think Metztil was simply trying to make things hard for him and was haggling.

"We do not like interacting with you outsiders. There is even a law that calls for death to anyone who does," Metztil clenched through his teeth, his gaze turning very complicated.

Because up until now, he was one of the biggest defenders of that law. How could he have known it would come to come back to bite him like that?

As for changing it as Alexander quickly suggested next, well this was where Metztil's tenuous position came to play.

In reality, the chief was not as worried about how the people would accept it as he was about his rivals, who were sure to stir up trouble using this as an excuse.

The hatred for the MV was too ingrained into the psyche of the people, making them susceptible to such plots.

So Metztil asked for much greater autonomy, similar to an ally status than an actual vassal. They wanted to rule these lands from the bottom to the top, promising to pay tribute in grain and soldiers.

But for Alexander, this was impossible, for it was a red line that was laid out by Lady Miranda in prior discussion.

The lady by the way had refused them for the meeting due to 'conflicting' personal views.

And so as her representative, after hearing all these excuses regarding the natives and the powerful elites, Alexander let out this frustrated hmph,

"Snort! From how we see it, this is your problem to solve Chief Metztil. As their leader, you need to convince your people and neutralize your rivals. Learn how to sell this deal as the best thing that would ever happen to them. I do not know much about you people, so I cannot help you with this."

If Metztil was unable to take care of his own house, then what was the point of discussing such things with him through Alexander, the man would soon get replaced anyway.

Thus even if Alexander could help, he likely would have not, wishing to test the man's capabilities. Only then would he be qualified to be Alexander's ally.

Alexander then also left the man with a few lasting words,

"Also, Chief Metztil, you people also really should get off your high horse by now. Learn to accept reality. It has been several centuries since the MV and the others came to this island and by all accounts you are the minority now, you are the outsiders, not us. Teach your people to stop clinging to the past. It's gone!"

This was his way of showing that he had reached his patience with this blind xenophobia from the natives.

"We are not rootless barbarians like you! We are a proud people with a thousand year history. Our gods are eternal and we… " However having his people's lineage questioned made Metztil instantly flare up to unimaginable heights as he wished to teach Alexander about their history.

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Unfortunately, he did not get to go too far as Alexander impatiently interjected with a mocking chuckle,

"Heh! If your gods were so strong, how could they lose to the MV and the Sybarians? Every culture in the world believes itself to be the strongest and most powerful group to exist, with a ten thousand year old history. Without anything to back it up, this is nothing but empty rhetoric. You should come to my country. The nobles there will teach you how to really flaunt their ancestry. ŕἈ₦Ö₿ÈŜ

My ears grow new wax every time I recall those pompous bastards!"

As Alexander said this, by the end, he could not help but his tone turned a bit crass and vulgar, for he was forced to recall how many of the nobles liked to remind Alexander who they were, even those men who had bent like knee to him.

They would in various subtle ways try to show off their heritage and identity, be it through their movements, speaking language, or the most common of all- dressing up in all kinds of expensive and gaudy ways

This way they wished to convey that although Alexander might be their superior, in terms of blood and upbringing, they were better, and not something an upstart slave like Alexander could compare.

Being a modern man who inherently saw all these people as barely civilized barbarians, the young pasha would only brush these acts off as a simple trip of the egotistical.

As long as these people performed their duties as asked, he could care less what they thought or said about him.

However, although Alexander was immune to such offense, the problem came with his wife Cambyses, who was not inoculated as such.

Without the memory of belonging to a lush and supremely powerful civilization to fall back on them, the thin skinned young girl found such slights maddening to endure, especially as she longed to be accepted by the nobility.

This longing was also all too natural.

After all, which commoner did not dream of sitting and dining with these people who were seen as the pinnacle of human societal status?

However, while trying to do this, many of the noble ladies would try in various ways to poke Cambyses, and unfortunately, she was unable to swallow these or look the other way.

As a girl in her early twenties who should be still in college, enjoying life to her fullest, the relatively immature Cambyses proved an easy target for the far more experienced and scheming ladies, who were able to poke at all her greatest weaknesses, insidiously jabbing at her inherent faults, such as her heavy, thick accent that made her Azhak sound funny, her low birth that caused her manners not to be as refined as the others and most hurtful of all, the absence of her mother, who had died at childbirth.

The ladies taunted that she was like this because her mother did not teach her the appropriate manners, while the most vicious of the bunch even said that it was Cambyses who had killed her.

Of course, they never said this openly in a brazen way- that would be not only too rude but even suicidal. Alexander was still their lord and had too many ways to make their lives very difficult.

Just him sanctioning them from his goods would be too painful.

So all of it was very coded and innuendoed.

But perhaps this hurt Cambyses even more. If it had been open and out, she could have at least retained then and there.

However, the 'polite' circumstance resulted in the girl simply taking it and numerous times she would come back to Alexander in tears after attending a party, complaining to him how she was bullied and asking him to punish them.

Alexander would then have to spend a lot of time placating his mistress and help her build her confidence, as well as teach her how to deal with them next time.

Now getting back to the point- the fact that these nobles had little scalps about even antagonizing Alexander when showing off, truly showed how proud they were of their culture.

It was not something a scattered group of barbaric tribes who killed one or two of each other's men every other day over something trivial as a broken pottery could contend with.

Hence, armed with this moral superiority, Alexander continued, his voice now booming,

"You call us outsiders as a way to belittle us. It is your way of expressing the hatred for stealing your island from you. Heh! Ridiculous!

Land has never belonged to any one tribe or country. Since the sun started rising in the east, land has always belonged to the strongest.

You were weak so you got kicked out of your own homes. And now that the MV have gotten weak, they too are getting kicked out of their homes. This is the natural law of the world. The sooner you people realize this, the better."

"......." Alexander's words left the brawny chief once again unable to mount any counter, particularly because he knew what was being said was the absolute truth.

In this time and age, the law of the jungle prevailed, and if you were unable to defend your land, then you deserved to get kicked in the nuts and be hounded out.

So after finally going back and forth on the matter, Metztil decided to swallow the bitter pill and clenching his fist, gritted out,

"Fine! I can agree to the proposal. But I will need to discuss with the elders before promising you the exact details of the deal."

This was relatively acceptable to Alexander because he of course did not expect the negotiations to be finalized with just one single meeting.

"Great!" He thus cheered, before pressing, "But I hope to hear an answer with this week. The enemy will not wait for us to gather our strength. I will have my men ready by then."

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