Herald of Steel

"Keep shadowing them without giving ourselves away. We must not be detected until they reach the ambush site!" The owner of the voice was gruff and firm, giving away a telltale sign of his profession.

Due to all the yelling the job entitled, almost every sailor tended to develop a deep, raspy tone, the throat having been repeatedly 'broken' and then 'reformed'.

"Bu… but father, that's an entire army! Just look at their numbers!" The 'son' however remained unconvinced of their route and tried to convince his father otherwise, "There must be at least a hundred, maybe even two hundred ships. We will be cut down to the last man before we can even board a single ship!"

And the man was undoubtedly right.

With roughly 20,000 men as an escort, Alexander was virtually untouchable. You needed a force of similar parity to even have a chance of seeing him.

"Just listen and do what I say!" However, the father remained adamant and boomed with a thunderous roar.

The son could do little except clench his fist and obey while cursing in his heart that whatever bounty they might have been promised, it was useless if they were dead.

...

Alexander's flagship was placed in the safest place of the formation, right in the middle.

And given the size of his escort, the only danger he considered was getting unlucky and running into any storms or other natural disasters.

Because if there was any naval fleet huge enough to pose a threat to him, well putting aside the unlikeness, he would see the huge fleet coming from miles away.

Hence Alexander completely let his hair down and chose to enjoy the free time he had. And in an era with very limited entertainment, this left him with very few options.

This meant he mostly spent his time 'catching up' with Lady Nanazin, especially as the lady had become increasingly sullen in the last few days.

It seemed the closer they got to Zanzan, the more bitter and melancholic she got, as she understood their little 'honeymoon' was coming to an end and that she would probably never get to monopolize Alexander like she was able to ever again in her life.

Once they stepped off the ship and returned to their usual routine, it might even be too hard for her to get a chance to meet Alexander privately, there were too many prying eyes.

Hence she was very adamant about getting the most of it while the good times lasted.

Thus in the following days, it became almost a feature for unrestrained noises to drift out of Alexander's cabin, its tone too scandalous to bear.

The lady gave Alexander not only the deluxe experience there but also the brand new hardcore mode.

And Alexander was stunned at all the painful things the lady asked… no demanded he do to her.

Alexander had some prior experience in this field, but the extent here left the man stunned.

From choking, to bondage and to various extreme acts, Lady Nanazin let Alexander take her in ways that appeared as novel as it looked painful.

There were even times when Lady Nanazin's body would even have large blue, painful looking patches all over her body, causing the man to be stunned by how great her pain tolerance was- Alexander doubted he could bear it if their positions were switched.

Alexander obliged Lady Nanazin's requests within reasonable limits, eager to also enjoy this brand new experience.

However then came a most extreme demand, with Lady Nanazin asking Alexander to brand her flanks with an iron hot poker.

The man had no idea where she got that piece of intricate headed metal, but this was one step too far even for him.

He at first refused, but after the lady threw a small tantrum, managed to talk her out of it by claiming such a mark would be hard to hide from Ptolomy. He even promised to do it at a later, more suitable date.

.....

Alexander was busy with one such steamy session, when there was a loud thud on his door, followed by a slightly nervous call,

"My…my lord, pardon me but we have noticed nearly two dozen ships coming to us from the right! Commander Kadius has already sent ships to meet them!"

It was unknown if the man was worried about the sudden sighting or for interrupting his lord's 'special' time.

'Two dozen? That's nearly 2,000 men!'

Alexander was indeed 'busy', but quickly snapped out of it when he heard the report.

He recognized there was no way all those ships could turn up accidentally at the same time. It had to be the intentional.

He had to see the situation for himself.

Thus ending the session earlier and asking Lady Nanazin to get dressed, he quickly left for the decks.

And as the fresh, sea breeze hit him, Alexander turned his head to see a few intruding ships in the distance, waving a crimson red flag with two criss crossed swords.

They had yet to breach the formation perimeter, and as Kalidus's contingent approached, Alexander thought these ships acted quite strangely, taking no evasive actions and simply allowing themselves to get surrounded.

For now, these ships were like harmless gifts that had just delivered themselves into his mouth.

Alexander naturally became suspicious of the act and wondered what kind of ploy he was facing.

Thankfully he did not need to wait long to figure out the mystery.

"Greeting, Lord of Zanzan, my name is Vidiyan, captain of the Blazing Sword Pirate!"

Kalidus would bring the leader of the enemy fleet to Alexander upon the former's request, where the sharp looking man with a full thick beard would address seeing the pasha as such, with a bow and in broken Azhak.

Alexander found the man dressed in crimson red leather armor to be quite an unknown surprise and naturally turned to Kalidus to ask for details,

"He offered to surrender his entire fleet to us on the condition he gets to meet with you my lord." The military commander revealed with a slightly surprised voice of his own.

When he mobilized his forces against this encroaching threat, he had expected either of two outcomes- chasing them away or defeating them in a bloody battle.

Who knew there was always a third option- a peaceful, conditional surrender?

So when the pirate captain made his offer, Kalidus was simply unable to refuse.

"That is correct. I have always wanted to meet you, my lord. It is an honor!"

Sensing the gazes falling on him, the pirate captain very naturally inserted himself into the conversation, fearlessly stepping forward to once again greet in a very charming, soft voice,

"My lord, I come bearing great news. Let me first introduce my crew- we are pirates serving under the Heeat family. I presume you know how the Sybarsis families work?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yes! They use your kind to punish 'unruly' merchants. Go on!" Alexander impatiently waved, eager to know the real reason behind this meeting.

"Hahaha, yes, that is us," Vidiyan let out a very frank proud laugh, "We are the executioners of the family, carrying out their dirty work."

"And that is also why we are meeting like this.

"You see my lord, a few weeks ago, we received an order from the highest echelon of the family telling us to attack your fleet en route to Zanzan. The plan was, a Baron Lamp would offer you a guild, with the premise of leading you through supposed 'dangerous' waters. But he would actually lead you through a narrow choke point through the reefs, where your fleet's numbers would mean little!"

It was at this point Alexander finally woke up to what was being revealed, his eyes losing their impatience and his ears turning up- the broken Azhak he had found ear scratching just a bit before now sounded perfectly clear as blaring alarm bells began to go off inside his head at the revealing information.

Alexander could easily see where the man was going,

The captain however pretended to not notice the other's shock and simply continued in his monotone voice,

"As the guild would let you into the trap, we were going to be hiding around the surrounding islands' alcove, waiting for the signal. This would tell us the ship you were in had entered the narrow strait. The moment we got it, we were to use our fast skiffs to rapidly board your ships and…. Well I am sure you can guess the rest."

Vigayan let out a cold, placid smile, his eyes darkening,

"..." While Alexander's countenance turned frosty.

"Unfortunately the contact that was supposed to meet us from that Baron Lamp never arrived. I understood something must have happened. So after waiting for a while, I sent some men to the city.

And there I learned of your deeds. It was also at that point, that I realized we had no chance to succeed. You were already openly recruiting sailors and I understood any one of them would expose our route."

"So I asked the Heeat family that it was not possible. However, they refused to listen. I was to find a way and attack you no matter what, even if meant utter annihilation. Which brings us to where we are now. I have come to beg asylum.

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

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original site:

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