Herald of Steel

The basic mopping up took until dusk, as the killed were gathered and buried in a giant pit.

To kill or capture any fleeing stranglers, Alexander sent out his cavalry to hunt them down, which he estimated to take a few days, while he and the bulk of his victorious army made their way into the city, along with their captured slaves and loot.

He and the soldiers entered the city under a cacophony of cheers and joyous cries by the jubilant public, and even Ptolomy and the royal family had come out to congratulate Alexander, flanked by his new palace guards led by Cambyses.

The long procession of soldiers, along with the new slaves and the huge number of carts full of grains caused the crowd to shout in rapturous elation as they watched their victories brothers, fathers and friends enter the sacred city with their heads held high.

In their minds, this victory signified the son of Ramuh emerging triumphant over the evil kingslayer and thus restoring the kingdom to its proper inheritor.

A further reason for their celebration was Alexander's announcement that to celebrate the win, the day after tomorrow free food would be given at the temple, which made the populace chant his name.

Yes, his name.

Not Ptolomy's name but his name, i.e- Alexander's name.

This caused a frown to form on Ptolomy's face, but remembering that this dangerous fiend would be voluntarily handicapping himself with that waste of a territory, Ptolomy decided to let go of his treasonous action.

The root of the people chanting Alexander's name was the result of the hard, back-breaking work of Camius, who had worked tirelessly the last month to form at least the basic skeletal framework of an embryonic spy network.

He had arranged for criers in the town square to repeat what was said in the temple, he helped the people know more about the commander of the army- Alexander and he bought gangs and street rats under his payroll to better control the city.

And under this incessant propaganda, the fruit of that labor finally materialized itself as the populace now put Alexander just below Ptolomy.

After Alexander led the soldiers into the city and had them return to the barracks, he immediately called for a tally of today's loss and got an initial estimate.

Further, more accurate reports in the preceding days would make Alexander that today's battle had not been just the defeat of Amenheraft's forces, but it had also significantly hurt his political standing, crippling him in the fight against Ptolomy as a lot of the nobles that supported him were in the flanks of his army and got cut down to ribbons.

The losses suffered by Amenheraft, in general, were catastrophic, out of the seventy-three thousand he had come with, he had only managed to take with him a paltry five to six thousand, with forty to fifty thousand dying by Alexander's hand or drowning in the river, while the rest, numbering around twenty thousand were captured as slaves, with Alexander's losses numbering less than a thousand.

But what was worse was how the losses were disproportional for Amenheraft.

The six thousand that escaped were mostly green recruits who had run earlier and faster than most, while Amenheraft's creme la de crop- his nobles, his heavy cavalrymen, his experienced officers, and captains got either killed or captured.

And Amenheraft's misfortunes did not end there as his losses were not just limited to personnel, but material too.

Particularly, as evidenced by Alexander, Amenheraft had left behind massive amounts of grain that Alexander oh so graciously accepted.

A total tally later would reveal the number to be close to fifty thousand tonnes of grain, enough to feed the city of half a million for six months.

The origin of this grain was it being looted from Tibias and also forcibly requisitioned from the populace of the Zanzan province, along with the generous donations by various nobles, which Amenheraft had the intent to use to feed the starving capital once he retook it.

And now all this had landed in Alexander's hand.

The night after the battle was a joyous one for Alexander as he held a private feast and drinking binge with the mercenary leaders and his captains.

They all congratulated him on his genius, sang songs, and generally made merry.

The celebrations lasted till the crack of dawn, and everyone there woke up the next day, by earliest at noon, with none spared the massive aching headache that came accompanying such reckless drinking.

But although these people were spared more pain drinking pains, Alexander was not, as he was immediately invited to another great feast, in the evening, this time thrown by the royals, inviting him, his close family, and the few nobles still alive to eat, drink and enjoy themselves.

The nobles present there all congratulated and spoke platitudes of cajoling flattery, first to the king and then to Alexander, particularly thanking them for executing all those palace guards, and once again taking their oath to their liege.

Speaking of 'liege', the one currently being referred to one- Ptolomy, had drunk himself till he was wasted, becoming so inebriated by the end of it that he even started professing his love for Alexander.

This prompted the Queen mother to quickly and forcibly remove the king from the dinner table and escort him to his chambers before he could humiliate the royal family any further.

Though some might forgive Ptolomy for letting his hair down as the man for the past month had lived in constant fear and anxiety.

He had vehemently protested Alexander's decision to launch an attack on Amenhearft, even when he had been provided with ample reasons why it had to be done, instead insisting on using the walls to repel the attackers.

Alexander had unequivocally shot these down, which he could do as he was the sore military commander in Adhan, and then to keep the king busy, made Ptolomy personally write hundreds, if not thousands of letters to send to every tin-pot noble out there, explaining the 'real' situation to them and then tempting them to switch sides by promising rich rewards.

Though the reception then had been lukewarm at best, now Ptolomy drank like a fish knowing the nobles understanding how the winds have changed, would soon come flocking to him, to pledge their allegiance.

But the one offer that made Ptolomy particularly happy was the offer sent by him to the pasha which proposed to give each pasha a one-time, cash payment of five hundred million ropals if they swore their allegiance before the battle with Amenheraft.

And though that particular offer wasn't taken, causing Ptolomy to let out constant sighs of regret, now he was drinking himself to high heaven at the thought of how those pashas must be kicking themselves.

After Ptolomy was removed from the dinner party, many of the serious and fake smiles got removed as well, as many began to mingle among themselves.

Alexander noticed that the light smile Hellma had had disappeared, replaced by a flat, almost unfeeling look as she probably contemplated her fate having been changed from being killed by Amenheraft to being abducted by Alexander.

'Zanzan is a wasteland. Perhaps it would have been better to have my head chopped off than die slowly and in agonizing pain after being struck with a disease.' Hellma lampooned while cursing her mother for not fighting with Alexander to revoke his absurd proposition.

On the other hand. the triplets - Afsarah, Afsanah, and Afsahah and their mother were in the complete opposite mood of Hellma, with huge grins plastered on their faces that seemed to threaten to tear their cheeks open, as they immersed themselves at the thought of being from now on called queen and princesses.

While Azira and Azura had a distinct air of awkwardness around them, not knowing if they should feel sad about their father's loss or rejoice that the man that didn't care for them any longer didn't succeed.

Alexander left these people to their own devices, as after the sumptuous feast, he was soon treated to a different kind of feast- a carnal feast consisting of Cambyses, Ophenia, and the most surprising of all, Gelene.

The three hungry succubi quickly drained Alexander, using their various orifices to pleasure Alexander and bring him to release after release.

Ophenia had dressed exactly like she had done before, but this time, under the hands of the experienced Gelene, she was bought to even greater heights as her piercings were pulled with just enough force to make the girl experience both pleasure and pain.

Ophenia sang with unrestrained roars as Alexander pounded her tight hole while her clit and nipples were pulled and twisted by the other two.

Cambyses seemed even wilder than before as after sucking out Alexander's release from the other girls, she then shared it with them via hot kisses, letting Alexander have a clear view of the milky fluid being swirled inside their mouths.

But there were two special highlights of the night for Alexander.

One was when he received a double titjob from Ophenia and Gelene.

The white pure angelic face of Ophenia contrasted perfectly with the dark, devilishly beautiful countenance of Gelene, and the two girls' skillful use of the tongue, made Alexander release the fluids multiple times in their mouths.

The second was the girls lining up with their butts toward Alexander and shaking them toward him, tempting Alexander to choose them.

This made Alexander have a nosebleed, as the sight of three huge, magnificent asses- pure white, tanned, and black, all tempting him to choose them, made his blood boil.

And he enjoyed all three with unrestrained zeal, drowning himself in prurience till the crack of dawn.