Herald of Steel

Chapter 1309: Deal with Lord Kite (Part-1)

Alexander was initially interested in hearing what Lord Kite had to say when he asked for a meeting.

Who knew it would be pleading on behalf of the nobles and asking him to put pressure on Lord Castell?

Alexander was not interested in doing all that tedious work for free.

Not to mention he also did not think Lord Kite's suggestion of swindling the Margraves for more money was worth any merit- they were even more broke than the current Lord Castell.

So with a gentle scoff, he gently shook his,

"My lord is only saying this because you do not know the true state of Lady Linda's finances. There is no way she can help you even if she wanted. I suggest you and the nobles give up here...Victory and defeats are natural in battle. Take it as part of losing the war. A debt paid to fate." Saying this Alexander paused a bit as a way to put pressure on Lord Kite and then finished by saying,

"Losing even a single battle is sometimes enough to bankrupt even ancient noble houses and even entire countries. The main thing here is to learn from this and grow. I insist you focus on that."

What Alexander really was asking Lord Kite was not to push it.

Lord Castell had made it clear that his family's coffers were not a charity 'bursary' and by now, Miss Linda's stuff was basically his.

Thus for all intents and purposes, the defeated nobles were left to themselves, requiring to rescue the people they valued out of their own pockets.

"....." And hearing this Lord Kite gritted his teeth in frustration.

He had originally hoped Alexander would be more malleable to his persuasion given their previous collaboration.

But despite the objections, Lord Kite was unwilling to back down. The various nobles had promised him perks too lucrative to pass up provided he could get them out of this bind.

Hence with a pleading face, he chimed, "My lord, I do not understand why you would be so against this deal. It helps you too. These people will sell for far less in the slave market than they will get you as ransom!"

"I'm sure that if you insist, Lord Castell will relent! The Heeat family is far more prosperous than what you actually think! And he really can't afford to antagonize so many of us at once. So you should push Lord Castell more." Lord Kite repeated his line as a way to emphasize his point, believing that as the victor of the conflict Alexander had been too lenient in the negotiations.

He wanted him now to squeeze Lord Castell down to his true bottom line, thus extracting the most amount of concessions possible.

"...." While hearing this, Alexander did not know where to laugh or cry.

'Why are you pitting against your own ally? Aren't you supposed to serve them?' He mused, although recalling how Lord Castell had thrown the lot of them under the bus, it was hardly surprising for them to try to repay in kind.

But despite Lord Kite's bait, Alexander was not interested in biting.

The fact of the matter was he was hardly moved by the allure of 'only a few more million ropals'.

When Lord Kite said Alexander did not know how rich the Heeats were, the same thing could be said for him. The man had no idea how rich Alexander was.

Thus with a firm face, Alexander re-iterated,

"I'm sorry my lord, the treaty has been signed. We are both happy with it. And I would feel disingenuous to bring it back up again with Lord Castell. A gentleman does not break his word."

If Lord Kite was drinking, he might have spit his water.

'You swindled your own ally of more than half her land even when you won and you talk about credibility...' The lord sneered at the back of his mind incredulously, barely stopping his tongue from wagging a bit too much.

Then he wanted to argue how Alexander was wrong about the entire thing and how it could be done without changing anything in the treaty. Lord Castell just needed to pay Alexander cash for the men and women and then retrieve them from the camp.

But soon understood he was missing the main point- Alexander was not interested in discussing this with Lord Castell.

".... then my lord how about we buy them directly from you?" Thus quickly thinking on his feet, Lord Kite proposed with gritted teeth, although his voice sounded a bit hoarse.

The reason why he had not done this before was naturally because they lacked the funds.

And when that dilemma was quickly pointed out by Alexander, he first pleaded,

"Please give us some time to gather the funds, my lord! It will not take long."

But this was quickly rejected by an impromptu snort, "You want to wait as you go all the way back to Lynica, gather the required funds, and then come back once again? Who knows what will happen in the meantime? Am I to house, feed, and cloth so many men and women till then for free?"

There were many examples in history when prisoners were sold or even simply executed to save costs.

"My lord, we are willing to make up for that cost in the subsequent ransom price," And Lord Kite knew this, which was why he was quick to add that cause.

But Alexander was not buying it, posing, "Heh, how many of you can afford your own ransom? Worry about yourself first."

Now, what Alexander was implying was actually not accurate because even though these nobles might not be that rich, they at least could afford to redeem some of the men.

And that was especially true given the 'discount' Alexander was giving them, his asking price was quite reasonable.

Lord Kite was also about to argue when suddenly, Alexander smirked, "Although.... There is something I want!"

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