Herald of Steel

“Your Majesty, rest assured, I have brought even more gifts for you. I left them at my camp because it was getting late. I will present them to you tomorrow at court.”

Alexander was currently standing in front of the huge palatial mansion as he said this, and the promise of even more presents made Ptolomy flash a very wide grin.

First land and now this… The plump man was beginning to find Alexander more and more pleasing to the eye. So the king once again charmingly tapped Alexander on the shoulder, reiterating how he always knew Alexander was loyal and how pleased he was by this.

Then finally with all that said, he left the place with his queen a very pleased man.

While Alexander kept that same fake smile the entire time as he watched the pair walk away, before finally turning to take a look around the palace itself.

Enormous, made of pristine white marble and dotted with perhaps thousands of symmetrically arranged windows, the huge structure stood radiating great power and steadiness.

The visible columns were made of granite, and currently decorated in various green garlands, colorful festoons and brilliant fabrics. While the floors were covered in expensive carpets, inlaid with beautiful and artistic tapestry.

Back in the front of the iron wrought gates, stood a huge fountain fed using a series of hidden pipes from a nearby spring, on which floated tens of thousands of fresh colorful flower petals, making the air slightly sweet and intoxicating.

The roads leading to the huge palace were chiseled with beautiful cut stones, while on both sides of it were planted vibrant flowerbeds, perfectly kept green shrubby and very pleasing to look at fruit bearing trees.

And with fall coming in, all of these plants seem to have bloomed to their best natural form, their last spark of brilliance before dying down for the winter.

Thus the sides of the walkway appeared as if it was decorated by sparkling gems and jewels, and filling the air with an aromatic flowery fragrance that soothed the mind.

‘This might be…. No, it definitely is better than the one of Parthenigh.’ Alexander mused seeing it all, comparing this one to the royal palace of Tibias.

That place also technically belonged to him, and was currently being overseen by the former Crown Prince Philips.

And the pasha found that in terms of grandeur and opulence, Ptolomy’s place definitely trumped the other- appearing bigger, more decorated, with a greater number of facilities and much more well taken care.

Of course this could have also been due to the fact the Adhanian palace had been renovated for the Jtaama, and not currently engaged in a war, unlike its Tibian counterpart.

But still, Alexander thought it apt to give the award to it as many of this palace’s brilliance was also hidden by the night, letting Alexander only see it under the soft glow of thousands of brass braziers.

And so for a second he could not help but feel a tinge of jealousy.

Now, Alexander was also not simply taking in the sights when he compared the two.

He still remembered how he had promised his wife that he would build a grand palace for them, and so he was taking as much inspirations from these as just the sights, wishing to incorporate the things he liked into his own design.

Alexander even noted to himself,

‘Hmmm, maybe I will ask Ptolomy for the blueprints of this place. I wonder just how big the palace and the surrounding forests truly are.”

“Mmm… but I suspect even the Royal Library might not have all of it. This is a really old palace, so it was definitely not made all at once. I guess they added various keeps and extensions as needed over time. So to find all the scattered pieces of the plan….”

Even Alexander did not feel too thrilled about his chances.

And as he thought all this, he also began to realize just how old of a nation Adhania was.

It had been of course ruled over many dynasties, for instance the recent Royal dynasty was ‘only’ a few centuries old but despite the change of ruling powers, the boundaries these dynasties ruled was surprisingly consistent.

This mostly had to do with the religion of Ramuh, which pervaded every corner of the people’s lives, and whichever family took up the mantle, always garbed themselves as the ‘Father’s Chosen’ and Protector of all his believers.

This let the nation have such mass and prestige that Tibias was simply not able to copy. Which in turn translated to enormous wealth and luxury for its elites such as it was in display now.

Thus for a second, Alexander even half regretted letting this jewel fall into Ptolomy’s hand, and wished he had simply taken over the place for himself.

Of course it was only a momentary intrusive thought as given the political and much more importantly religious significance of the place, Alexander would have had countless crusades launched against him if he even dared to have such a thought.

…..

With Ptolomy’s departure, Alexander and the twins were soon escorted to their respective chambers in the guest wing of the huge palace, each getting the penthouse suite equivalent.

They were furnished with multiple rooms, each more lavishly decorated than the last, filled with only the best quality of luxuries.

Tables, cabinets, beds and wardrobes made of high quality timber with the best workmanship, chairs, couches and mattress covered with the softest of goose feathers, and bed sheets and window curtain made from the finest of linen and intricately decorated with exquisite stitchworks, all the rooms truly lived up to their reputation of belonging to a king.

They were even fully stocked with a huge array of wines, seasonal fruits, milk and lastly a jar full of white sugar- needless to say an extreme luxury.

But the best of all was the view from the balcony of the two rooms, which was simply stunning.

Overlooking the beautiful pink Life Sea, the rooms facing it almost glowed like magic as the water emitted a magnificent bioluminescent light in the dark, even lighting up the night sky above it.

Alexander had seen this sight a few times before, but still, it mesmerized him once again- a sea hundreds of kilometers in area, glowing a rippling color of pink, blue and green in the dark, the entire thing looked like it had been lifted straight out of a alien world and planted it.

Seeing it, the man could not help but once again left a twinge of regret over letting the city slip through his hand and even thought if this was in the modern world, this sight alone would have drawn in millions of tourists from all over the world.

…

Over all, the man was quite satisfied with his accommodation as it seemed depsite the ongoing Jtaama drawing in huge swathes of dignitaries, and their numbers being especially more than the usual due to many also coming personally to attend Pasha Farzah’s youngest daughter’s wedding, Ptolomy was willing to pamper Alexander and his nieces, giving them the best rooms available.

What he did not know was his original room was far more spartan, and was only changed at the last second upon Alexander giving sufficient answers and promising Ptolomy lavish gifts.

That was also why Alexander’s room did not have many maids or staff waiting for him, as was the norm.

Typically for a young, lone master like Alexander, a whole host of maids would be already there to cater to his every whim, dressing and undressing him, fetching the food and drinks, taking care of the candles, lamps and fireplace, fixing the water for the baths and basins, and most of making his bed and warming it up for him.

Azira and Azura certainly had a small team in their rooms, as arranged by their grandfather and uncle.

Yet, Alexander found none of this to be present, entering with his belongings to a vacant room all by himself.

And all this was too because the maids meant to serve Alexander had to be changed at the last second.

Initially Ptolomy wanted to give Alexander a pair of muscular, middle aged ladies with a face few men could love. Crooked, with many wrinkles and spots, caused by intense exposure to heat, such as the kitchen and working outdoors, these women were reserved especially to humiliate nobles the king did not like.

In fact, this was one of the main things Pasha Farzah had fought over with Ptolomy, perhaps even more so than meeting his granddaughters at the gate.

Because he knew Alexander, and how prideful he was.

The experienced lord easily saw how the young man would absolutely flip at such a greeting. Thus he urged Ptolemy Ptolomy to reconsider even if just for the sake of their alliance.

But that had only resulted in a furious king locking Farzah in a room and threatening to dismiss him as his Prime Minister if he were to get out.

Although ironically enough, despite all that fighting, the end result came to be the same.

With Alexander buttering him up, the arranged maids were also quickly dismissed, while the head maid of the palace scrambled like a madwoman, trying to find a suitable replacement.

Her problem was, this was the time of Jtaama and on top of that, it was a special one this year.

There were just too many nobles to attend to, along with even a few Pashas- so most of the more experienced and beautiful maids had already been given to them.

Whatever was left hardly befitted serving someone as high as Alexander.

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