Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 837

Chapter 837: Might of words(4)

Leaving behind him a chamber brimming with exhilaration of a wish now conceded, Alpheo could almost feel the weight of the nobles’ delight clinging to the air like perfume. Their sons, so long confined away from the diamond of Yarzat, with the heir inheriting the land, the spare kept in waiting, the third often shoved into the clergy, were soon to have a new path.

They were at last offered something else: a ladder into the heart of Yarzat’s war machine.

It was not just glory they smelled. It was leverage. A second son might no longer be a burden, but a weapon sharpened for the family’s ambition. A third or fourth might bring home laurels instead of prayers. And should one of them, by fortune or talent, rise all the way to the rank of legate, then their house would suddenly possess a voice not just in their province, but at the very core of the crown’s strength.

Influence, after all, was the true coin of the realm and every lord in that room had just been promised a new purseful of it.

The nobles’ glee was therefore natural. But the moment Alpheo stepped into the quieter hallways, leaving behind their animated chatter, he was met by a very different kind of reception.

“Hey, Alph?”

The prince turned to see Jarza looming, arms folded across his chest like a fortress gate.

“Yeah?” the prince answered, his tone light, though his shoulders tensed at once as he knew what was to come.

” What the fuck was that about? Opening the command ranks of our legions to those bastards? Have you gone mad?” He said aiming his finger at the prince’s chest

Alpheo forced a thin smile, as if hoping humor might dull the blow. “I take it you’re not a supporter of the idea?”

Jarza’s glare deepened, but it was Asag who cut in before his companion could thunder further.

“Madness is a mild word for it.” He stepped forward, between the two. “Do you even grasp what you’ve done? Think past their cheers. Think about the men who bleed for you. The legionnaires will hear of this soon enough, and what will they see? That the posts they bled for, fought for, clawed their way up to, are now to be handed to pampered sons of silk and wine. Positions earned with scars will be replaced by family crests. And you expect the legions to swallow that without choking?”

He didn’t wait for an answer as he continued.

“You’ve marched with them,you know as well as I do that the legions work because every man understands his place. They think not of themselves, but of the whole, each one a gear turning in the same machine. That’s what makes them invincible. But these nobles? They’ve been raised since birth to believe the world bends around them and any of their whims.” He spat on the floor

”They’ll carry that poison into the ranks. They’ll chase personal glory, snatch for recognition, and in battle they’ll forget that they are only one part of the greater engine. And when they do, Alph, it won’t just be their failure, it’ll be the ruin of entire legions.”

Asag’s lip curled, the disgust plain in his face. “You’re trading the steel of our army for the rust of their pride.”

Their fury was no surprise. The White Army was their pride, their creation, their brotherhood of steel, and to see Alpheo offer its command to those pampered, conniving lords felt to them like salt in an open wound.

It was the one institution free from noble rot, the one bastion unsullied by politics.

Asag’s voice echoed again when Alpheo said nothing.

“Not to speak of the factionalism they’ll drag into it! Gods, Alph, can’t you see? You’ll be planting rivalries straight into the marrow of the legions. Feuds between families, jealousies, petty squabbles, all of it poisoning what has until now been an unblemished force. Politics should stay the hell out of the army. The White Army was the only thing that was ours! Why would you ruin that?”

Alpheo could not deny their words. On their side, they were right. But from where he stood, it was a step that had to be taken.

He drew in a slow breath, forcing calm into his tone, though he felt the heaviness of his words before speaking them.

“The White Army is a young tree,” he began, voice measured. “It grows strong, bearing fruit, but vermin and flies are never far. The farmer may guard it well, but no matter how long he fights, they will come for it eventually. That is the truth of power. That is the truth of envy. It always finds a crack to fuck you over”

He let that hang for a heartbeat before pressing on, his eyes locking firmly on his friends.

“For now, I stand at its head. The soldiers respect me. The nobles fear me. That balance keeps the army whole. But tell me, can either of you truly swear that when the crown passes to Basil, it will remain so? That in a moment of weakness, or a misstep, the lords will not demand outright what I am only offering on my own terms now? What if they do when my son face an invasion and the lords demand to counter my reforms in exchange for their help?”

The weight of his gaze struck both men into silence. Their anger faltered, replaced by the shadow of something colder. They had only ever known victory under Alpheo’s banner, stability under his hand. Yet they were not fools. They saw what he meant: outside enemies circled, nobles within still seethed at every restriction, and a whole conquered princedom simmered under Yarzat’s rule. If Alpheo were to fall, gods alone knew whether the state would stand,or fracture.

He was the lid on top of the boiling pot….

He did not let them speak.

“I do not know if it would take ten years, twenty, or a century. But I know this, what I offered today would be taken tomorrow. The nobles’ resentment festers. Their anger at being excluded from the legions is one of the deepest stones weighing between crown and lord. Better to lift it ourselves than wait for it to be hurled at our heads. My aim is not to weaken the army, but to bind the state tighter,to bridge what could one day tear us apart.”

The words tasted like ash to him. He too loathed the thought of sharing command with men he despised,but he knew it was necessary

“What you speak of is true,” he admitted, “and the worries you hold are not groundless. But consider this, luck has tilted the board in our favor.

By offering this concession now, while we are in a position of strength, we control its shape. We are the givers, not the beggars. If such demands had come to us in a moment of weakness, or during a crisis, we would have had no room to bargain, no room to impose terms that favor us. But now? Now we hold the pen that writes the deal.

We can lace it with conditions, mold it to serve us, and cut away the worst of its poison before it takes root while resolving the point of tensions between crown and nobles.”

He paused, letting that truth sink in before continuing.

“And at the end of the day, have we not always complained of another fundumental weakness? That is , of course, when the need for new officers arises; you all complained of it , we are forced to claw our way through the ranks, dragging men who are brave and skilled on the field, yes, but illiterate, men who must spend months learning how to read an order and to sign their own names? It slows us, cripples us at times. I have thought long and hard on how to solve this flaw, and at last I have found the answer.”

He turned sharply, eyes fixed on Jarza and Asag, who stood like two pillars of disbelief. His next words rang with the weight of a declaration.

“We will build an officer academy.”

Jarza and Asag blinked at each other.

“What the fuck is an academy?” Jarza asked flatly

Asag barked a laugh, though there was no mirth in it “Aye, what that supposed to be?”

Alpheo’s lips curved in the faintest smile “A place where we will train our future officers,” he said, pacing now, words burning with vision of a future he long visioned. “Sub-centurii, decurions, legates, men prepared not only to fight but to lead. There they will learn discipline, literacy, mathematics, strategy.

And yes, it will be open to the sons of lords, but also to the sons of the current officers and the best in the ranks.

No more shall we wait years for an officer to stumble his way into competence; we will make them.Of course that will bring some problems that I will have to analyze.”

Jarza exhaled heavily, rubbing a hand across his jaw, the sound closer to a growl than a sigh.

Asag shook his head, muttering under his breath before letting it out in one exasperated groan. “Too much, Alph. It’s too much to swallow in a single day.”

The prince stopped pacing.

“I know,” he said simply. “I ask much of you, more than I have ever asked before. But hear me, this is no reckless gamble. I will pour my every effort into making a proposal that limits, as best as can be done, the harm these nobles may bring. And in the same breath, I will use this academy to fill our greatest void, trained, literate officers ready to serve the legions when we need them most.

This is planting tomorrow’s seeds today by striking at the nest of wasps that would one day snap at our heels.”

His gaze lingered on them both, steady as iron. “Trust me in this, as you always have. I do not gamble with what is ours. I strengthen it, even if the path stinks of shit at the first step, we shall all reach the flowers at the end of it.”