Herald of Steel



Alexander soon had a few men escort Mithras to his manor so that he could get some much-needed rest.

The journey seemed to have taken a toll on the man.

While Alexander chose to stay behind as he still wanted to oversee the unloading and see that everything go smoothly.

But even more importantly it was so that he could have some talks with a few selected people there.

These included a few Sycarians and other Thesians who had gone with Mithras to help him with the emigration, but more notably it was to greet the fleet captain who commandeered the whole group of ships and invite him to his manor.

The reason for this courtesy was this man was actually a shoulder (baron) working under Lady Inayah, to whom all these ships.

And in fact, the man was quite close to her, as evidenced by him being given the command of such a huge fleet, and hence Alexander was required to treat him with respect.

There was also the additional reason that he was eager to know about their journey, a pique of curiosity that strengthened itself when he heard some of the men who exited the ship which Mithras was on say,

"*Sigh*, this trip has been not bad….but that disaster…ohhh,"

The lamentation on that saying was palpable, for it appeared there was some tragedy and even death along the way.

But Alexander did not press these recently docked men for more information, though he even knew some of them.

Instead, he let them accompany Mithras, as Alexander was of the mind, 'Whatever happened, happened. After all, there was no point in crying over it now.'

'I will know about it soon enough. For whatever it was, at least the fleet is here.' He then patiently said to himself, determining the fact that since so many ships had returned made it back, the disaster could not have been anything too earth-shattering.

He was at least confident on that given the evidence in front of him.

But for Alexander to get to know the details, he would have to wait, for there were a lot of ships but not enough space on the port for all of them to dock at once.

This had been a similar problem even when Alexander first came to Zanzan back in November, for the harbor here could only accommodate about a hundred ships along its crescent-shaped wharf, whereas Alexander counted just the new fleet having around 80 to 90 ships, never mind that ships and boats already docked there.

"Get these small boats out of here, and let these ships dock first,"

Alexander had also chosen to stay here for this kind of purpose, as seeing a ship traffic jam forming, he issued this command, while also making a note to expand the harbor.

Now, Znazan's harbor was not bad per se, which was one of its few redeeming qualities, as the port had been developed in the past years to accommodate the warships used to launch against Tibias.

And given that this was the poorest part of Adhania where maritime trade was scarce, its facilities were adequate for its time.

Which was also why Pasha Muazz had simply neglected to widen the harbor.

But when Alexander took over, he had completely different policies, ones which emphasized trading and expanding, meaning the current facilities were starting to appear inadequate to deal with his growing needs.

And though the situation was not currently critical, Alexander did not want to wait till it become one.

'Hmmm, looks like I will need to have a talk with Diaogosis,' He thus determined as he waited for the people he wanted to meet to embark.

While in the meantime, Alexander oversaw and observed the sights of people disembarking.

And the bustling movement of men, women, and children flowing out of the ships almost like the dams had been broken was certainly an interesting sight to behold, making it seem almost like there was an osmotic pressure acting on them, which could be represented by how the people behind them pushed the people forward to exit the vessel as soon as possible.

Everyone that exited the ships without exception had something on their hands and sometimes even on their heads, as they lightly and quickly stepped out of the wooden floating structure.

The strong men usually carried the heaviest loads, stuffed inside either leather bags or wooden trunks, while women were seen carrying the lighter stuff such as jewelry, gold coins, food, etc, with lastly the children carting many miscellaneous goods, and something even their younger siblings on their arms.

But not everything could be carried by hand oneself, and so Alexander also noticed many of the passengers negotiating with the dock workers to get some of their heavier cargo out, though the act was made much harder by the fact the two parties chose different languages.

Hence this soon made them resort to sign languages, and Alexander saw firsthand evidence of how money talked.

The Thesians would hold out their chosen amount of coins in front of the dock workers, while the workers would either shake or nod their heads, showing denial or agreement.

And once enough coin would be displayed, these strong, muscular men would finally agree to the commission, before quickly climbing into the ships of their employers to retrieve their desired goods.

These dock workers would most of the time be accompanied by the employer who would follow them to make sure that they got the right cargo, while the ship crew would make sure no one stole another's stuff.

This vigilance was made easier by the fact that these men had gotten to know their passengers quite a bit after so many months of travel.

But still, the owners themselves were usually alert enough to keep an eye on the cargo being unloaded to make sure someone did not make away with their stuff.

In this way, the process of disembarkation continued.

Though it had to be pointed out that it was not as if there were no problems.

There was the usual shuffling as dock workers clashed with one another over commissions.

Many stronger men would push and shove others to get to the front of the customers faster, while others would say something like, 'I will do it for 10 tustas less than him. Come to me,'

This kind of poaching was common but also caused bad blood between the men, which even sometimes escalated to fist fights.

Then there was the general chaos caused by too many dock workers trying to enter and exit the ships at any one time, caused by all the individual hiring.

If the ship's captains were smart enough, they could have avoided such a situation by hiring only a few who would unload everyone's cargo.

That would have been much faster, safer, and easier.

The captains could have even charged each of the passengers a small fee, the aggregate of which could have been used to pay for these workers, so it would not be even any coin out of their purse.

They might have even pocketed the difference.

But they had not, hence there was a jam around nearly every ship.

But these were not by any margin the most problematic thing on the docks.

No for that, by far, would be the fact there were all these confused people there who did not know where to go, and just stood right where they landed and looked around aimlessly, hoping to catch a glimpse of their loved one, the one for whom they had made the perilous journey.

And as these people stood around, coupled with the already gathered crowd, soon the dock became overflowing with people.

If this continued, soon, there would be no place for the remaining people to even disembark.

Alexander of course noticed this, and he was quite alarmed that this was the state even when the disembarkment had not even properly begun now, for the fishing vessels were just leaving the ports, while the new ships were only starting to make port.

"Who is in charge of the port security? Get him to meet me," Alexander hence snapped and quickly displaced one of his bodyguards to find out.

And this armored man had no problem in locating the guard captain, as the former's fully kitted-up gear made it so that he could just walk up to any city guard and ask him for the information.

And so a while later the man in question presented himself in front of Alexander.

"My..my lord, I heard you were asking for me?" The man meekly mewled, looking dartedly at Alexander.

He could not even fathom what gross mistake he had done to earn the ire of such a big shot.

After all why else would he be called in front of the lord?

'He is not going to blame me for not meeting him on him, is he?' The assumed man wildly assumed.

While Alexander, certainly seeing the fear in the shivering man, made him ask if his face was that scary, and felt as if he had become the principal and the man before him was the student.

And then addressed the man for the reasons he called him.

"Take your men, and clear the harbor of every civilian, onlooker, and shopkeeper. Tell them it is the pasha's order."

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