Herald of Steel

There loud screams and chaotic shouts echoed throughout the hill and if that was not enough to alert the watchmen in the neighboring hills, well, at some point one brilliant man decided it would be nice to nice to have some light amidst the darkness and so decided to set one of the loghouses on fire.

And following him, many too felt that primal fascination all humans have with fire and lighting something with it.

Hence, given there were so many wooden houses and pillars, which were all dry and prime kindling, especially given the current season, like any good arsonists, the unruly mercenaries began to set fire to everything they could get their hands on, lighting the place up like was a Christmas tree, while there was also the plus point of burning their enemies inside.

Many even started to do it because it was safer than having to go inside and hack them to bits, in addition to it being effortlessly quicker.

While some fires were also started because many of the houses had an inbuilt fireplace right in the middle of them that got knocked around in the ensuing scuffle and the fire spread from that small kindling.

But whichever the case was, soon, the entire iron refinery began to burn so brightly that it might have actually been visible from space.

And so of course, this spectacle was noticed by every watchman within possibly a hundred-kilometer radius. who very soon sent word to their respective commanders about the disaster, who subsequently then send word up the chain of command, while also displacing men to go and inspect the situation.

The Zanzan that should have been soundly asleep, blissfully unaware had been given a rude poke and was starting to wake up.

And what did Tibias gain by giving away their position so openly?

Well, much of the iron smelting plant\'s infrastructure was burned to the ground, and basically all the guards posted on night duty were killed as well as the workers who operated the blast furnace, plus the slaves who worked the mines.

Which was certainly tragic and damaging, even if many of the slaves were horrible criminals.

But hardly the decapitating blow that the Tibian higher-ups were wishing for.

In fact, it was not even a decapitating blow for the iron smelting industry as due to the war a lot of the workers had been relocated to form reserve garrisons, leaving behind only a bare handful to just keep the blast furnace running, but not producing anything.

And this had been done because Alexander had told them that once a blast furnace was lit, it should never be allowed to go out, because reigniting it would be a pain.

So what the Tibians\' ultimately managed to do with this risky, one-in-a-lifetime opportunity was stop Zanzan from producing iron for a while.

And seeing this chaotic mess unfold right in front of him, but being powerless to do anything about it, Leosydas felt he had effectively lost control over the mercenaries, he quickly turned to Perseus for guidance, asking in a panicking, overwhelmed voice,

"Your Majesty, what now?"

Leosydas felt the only thing left to do now was to sound the bugle to retreat.

Because given their element of surprise was completely gone, all chances of attacking now seemed lost to him.

While Perseus kept a stale face and only kept glancing up, scanning the skies.

More specifically, he was looking at the two lights that had become visible to him after ascending this hill.

And this sight seemed to make him deeply think about something.

"We are not on the wrong hill! We simply misjudged its height! The manor is up top!" And suddenly Perseus declared to Leosydas, sounding very different from his usual self.

Because instead of the panicking Leosydas, he appeared very much calm and collected, and seemed to be able to make rational judgments based on current observations that Leosydas seemingly was unable to.

And from this interaction, it seemed to show that Leosydas was the type of person who calmly planned things out in the long term, but panicked if things did not go according to plan, or if a situation arose that needed quick decision-making.

While Perseus was the complete opposite, quick on his feet and acting decisively in the blink of a moment, but unable to strategize for the long term.

So perhaps that\'s why the duo worked so well in a pair.

As evidenced right now, for when Perseus said his hypothesis, Leosydas was predictably confused, and could only confusedly mutter, "Wh..at?"

So Perseus patiently pointed his arms towards the lights above and said, "There! That must be the manor. That was what we were looking at from our camps."

"It is much higher than we thought."

"In the darkness, we simply forgot that. And when we got to this strange place, we thought this was it. And started all this commotion."

"What a blunder!"

Perseus let out a rueful smile and shook his head as he said this.

While Leosydas was incensed, not at Perseus but Mohshin, shouting, "But the map! The map said nothing about this! How were we supposed to know?"

At that moment, Leosydas felt so much anger towards that old man that had he been present with them at the time, Leosydas might have actually skinned him alive and salted his flesh before slowly feeding him to the birds.

But for Mohshin, it had been actually an honest mistake.

When drawing the map, he had simply forgotten to take into account that there would be multiple large light sources.

And this had happened in spite of the fact that when Tibias had planned for the offensive, they had one day even taken him to the very foot of the hill along which they were supposed to attack, just to confirm it was the right way.

And Mohshin had confirmed indeed it was.

But that was all done during the day, and the thick trees obscured all but the highest light atop the manor.

So Mohshin, who was in fact not a local, and had never usually used that path, simply hypothesized that simply climbing the hill straight up would get the army to their target.

Completely forgetting there was a whole iron smelting plant with thousands of men standing in the way.

And now it was Tibias who was having to pay that penalty for the oversight.

Hecen it was understandable that Leosydas was so angry.

While Perseus standing next to him, again appeared much calmer, only saying, "But the question is which light to follow. There are two!"

And it was at that point, Leosydas calmed down enough and actually took the time to turn to look at what Perseus was talking about.

Indeed there were two sources of light further up the hill.

And additionally, as if to make matters just that bit interesting for them, they were in fact in two completely different directions, one to the left, the other to the right.

\'Weren\'t there supposed to be only one? Is there another strange place like this?\' And seeing this Leosydas\'s head began to spin a bit.

"Let\'s go towards the dimmer of the two, Your Majesty! According to that traitorous slave\'s description, the lord\'s mansion is able to oversee the entire surrounding," Leosydas had very much changed his tone regarding Mohshin as he pointed to the weaker looking of the two sources, reasoning since the light was less intense it had to be further up, and so it had to be from the manor that was supposed to be atop the hill.

But Perseus rebuked this, reasoning, "Not necessarily. The dimmer light might be from a weaker source. So it might be actually closer."

It seemed in these tense situations, it was he who could reason critically.

And this reminder worked wonders in shutting Leosydas down.

Perseus was completely right, and given it was completely dark, there was no way to tell which was which.

And worse, depending on which angle one looked from, either light could look higher than its counterparts.

"So which one do we choose?" Leosydas clenched his teeth as he asked this in frustration.

"Both!" And Perseus did not wait for a second with his answer, and before Leosydas could give an incredulous look, the king explained,

"You and I will split our forces in two and attack both places simultaneously. And whoever is wrong, will turn around and meet up with the other."

"That…" Leosydas was actually shocked by this suggestion.

Not because it was something surprising, but because he felt that splitting forces at night when the enemy would have to have been surely alerted, was the epitome of foolishness.

Leosydas was sure Perseus had to know better.

And being friends with him for so long, Perseus could of course what Leosydas was thinking, and so succinctly reasoned,

"We have no time to wait and slowly figure out which is the correct target. I\'m sure, as well you are, that the guards on the manor have already been alerted and garrisons from the city should have already started making towards the manor."

"So now the name of the game is speed."

"We must march at lightning speed and get to the mansion before the city garrisons can get there!"