Alexander found himself in a bit of a pickle with the request made by nes.
Because technically Gelene- the ebony beauty was not his, she was Cambyes's, as he had promised the girl her freedom to own property.
Though it would be hard to explain this to nes, who might think Alexander was just making excuses, as legally, in the eyes of the law, Gelene was Alexander's property, as was Cambyses.
So, Alexander thought of a different plan, "nes, it seems you have not understood my question."
"When I ant was, do you love her so that you will respect her wishes and let her decide if she decided to be with you? Or will you keep her as a slave? A sex object to vent your lust?"
"I…." nes appeared stumped by the question as he asked himself, 'Do I want her as my willing wife or slave?'
Gelene was always 'nice' to him, so up until now, he had assud she would just co when he called her.
"You think if you free her from , from slavery that she will be so grateful that she will just marry you, right?" Alexander hit nes's thought with pinpoint accuracy, which made the giant speechless.
"Haah," Alexander sighed after looking at nes, "As your friend let tell you so things you were not privy to."
"Haven't you wondered how I could know so many things about Octavius, things even you a close slave to him did not."
"Don't tell …Gelene.." nes seed to understand where Alexander was going.
"*Nod*, yes," Alexander confird, "She has been working for for quite so ti. You can confirm it with Camius if you don't believe it."
"And she in return for her spy… cooperation Gelene has asked for many things, things like the freedom to choose the n she sleeps with."
Alexander was telling nes in a roundabout way that Gelene had chosen Alexander as her man and not nes.
"*Plop*" nes, understanding this clenched his fists so hard that a few of his knuckles popped.
He was devasted by this as one of the reasons for his acquisition of power was to free and then marry that girl who had so tenderly shown him the best night of his life.
So, right now he felt as if nothing else mattered.
Alexander noticing the mournful look on nes's face, a face that seed to say that his heart just died, with great reluctance decided to extend a lifeline to him, "It seems you are truly in love with herm huh."
"*Sigh*, what kind of a friend would I be if I let you leave my tent with that face," Alexander said shaking his head exaggeratedly.
"Okay, you win. After we reach Cantagena, I will break my word to her and give her to you, if you should still desire her."
This made nes feel torn about if he should be happy about getting his girl or sad and ashad about making his commander, nay friend, break his word.
And luckily for Alexander, the latter won, as among the people of Theocles, keeping one's words was seen as a sign of a human, and breaking it a sign of a breast.
nes would gladly beco a beast his love Gelene, but his heart could not bear to let his friend beco one for him.
"Alexander…you…I," nes stamred for a while as he found it hard to pronounce the correct words, but at last he regained his composure and said, "No, as long as she is happy, I am happy."
As nes said those brave words, Alexandre did not fail to notice the sadness in his tone.
'Ah, first loves. So bittersweet,' Alexander ruefully thought.
But nes was not done, "I hope you can treat her and her children fairly." He added as he was afraid that Cambyses, as Alexander's main wife, might bully Gelene and her children.
"Children? What children? Didn't you know Gelene can't have children? She's barren." Alexander exclaid in surprise, amazed that nes did not know this about his lover.
This was not a particular secret among the higher-ups.
"Barren?... She's barren?" nes repeated the sa words stunned, his mouth full agape.
He never imagined such a scenario even in his wildest dreams.
"Yea..why do you think she could sleep around so much and not have a single child?" Alexander pointed.
"According to her, the brothel she worked in fed her a poison that made her infertile. That was also why Nestoras paid so much for her, forty-three thousand tustas, and that's after intimidating the owner a lot. Because one could release inside her all day long without all the worry and hassle."
nes stood thunderstruck at this revelation, 'So, that's why she let finish inside her. And here I thought she loved , hehe.'
In Thesos, usually, only couples and lovers finished inside, while casual 'get-togethers' finished outside.
And so, with this single piece of information, nes's undying love for Gelene turned to apathy and even a bit of hatred as he felt betrayed by the girl.
"Thank you, commander, for telling this, And thank you, Alex, for what you were willing to do for as a friend, I will never forget it. But you can keep that slave." nes now felt even saying the na Gelene revolting.
He then quickly excused himself, "I have lots of things to do, so I will see myself out."
As nes stord out, Alexander asked himself if what he did was truly necessary.
And the answer he ca up with was, 'Yes, absolutely.'
This was because Gelene was an extrely ambitious and manipulative woman,
If she wasn't, she would not have been able to beco a high-class courtesan within a re six years and likely would not have survived till now.
So, Alexander, quite rightly feared that nes would not be able to resist her charms and beco a puppet between her finger, turning from Alexander's most competent captain to his most treacherous one as Gelene would push her 'husband' to gain more and more power and influence.
But although Alexander had managed to stop the worst-case scenario, he was struck with another bad one.
One where he was the one who had to deal with the ambitious, manipulative woman instead of nes.
'Huh, so I sohow latched myself to that poisonous snake, eh?' Alexander lampooned at the thought of adding Gelene to his haram.
And he had to add her after his talk with nes, as he would likely have to frequently be in contact with nes at least for the foreseeable future, and thus would be vulnerable to any scrutiny by nes.
Even if nes detested Gelene now, Alexander was afraid of the rcurial nature by which nes had decided to change his feelings and feared that once the black giant had cald down he might change his stance again, especially if his girl was still available.
'Well at least she's pretty,' Alexander understanding there was still he could change, decided to look at the bright side of things- things like Gelene's succubus-like figure.
And that thought imdiately produced so raunchy images inside Alexander's head, which, understanding it was far too early in the day to be thinking about such things, he forced down and got to work.
He first rechecked the various reports, re-reading them so as to make sure that he did not miss anything, redid the various maths, had breakfast, and then decided to go on a camp tour.
He first visited the Cantagenan camp, which was huge, bigger than all the rcenary camps combined, and witnessed the collection that was going on.
Literally, thousands of people were there, running through the rain and mud as fast as possible to get everything of value out of the Cantagenan camp and into theirs.
Along with them was a large number of ard rcenaries who were stationed there, to keep discipline and more importantly protect the loot.
Alexander had gotten the report that many of the Cantagenans and people from its sister cities were, predictably, not very happy with the 'reallocation of resources' being carried out by the rcenaries, and had attempted to stop them, resulting in even a few brawls, though no one had been killed.
Alexander witnessed mountains of fabric, carpets, and drapes, carts full of china, shiny piles of gold coins, and many other wondrous treasures adorn the Cantagenan camp and he drooled at the thought a significant part of that would be his.
He then spent so pleasant words with nicus and Theocles, and then with so of the soldiers there, asking about their day-to-day and other mundane stuff.
Then he located Camius who was gathering the servant and slaves to be made into new units, asked him about his day and next went on the huge military drill that was taking place in the sa camp and cherished the sight of how the formation using his reform of placing the captain at the back on a horse crushed the traditional phalanxes.
This was because the captain, now at the back and free from the burden of fighting, had better decision-making capability and the horse gave them greater mobility and an elevated vision, thus allowing them to make rapid, accurate changes to the formation, enabling them to more effectively open and exploit gaps in the opponent's lines.
Pleased that he had managed to convince the nay-sayers, he exchanged a few words with Heliptos and Petricuno, who seed over the moon at this new tactic, and then Alexander moved on to his camp where the cavalry practices were happing.
Here lodias greeted him and inford him of so three hundred Sycarian who had fled the battlefield had returned to camp once again and were teaching others how to ride.
Alexander praised lodias for his quick thinking and after so pleasantries moved to his last destination, the Cantagenan training ground where he t nes.
By the ti he was done with that, it was already dusk and thus Alexander's busy routine ended for the day.
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