Herald of Steel

Alexander's lips imperceptibly shook as the girls around him discussed and critically dissected his story.

All of it was of course made up, Alexander had just said this to entertain the girls.

But who knew they would take it so seriously?

They were seriously discussing the whole thing… huddled together and excitedly chiming their own opinions like,

"No wonder the spice is so expensive. Those eagles must only lay eggs a few times a year. " and

"He only managed to survive because his brother intervened, trying to get in the eagle's way. Ahhh… what a tragedy!"

Seeing this, Alexander seriously wondered how he was supposed to break the news. For a moment, he even thought about letting the mystery and romance remain.

But ultimately thought better.

As wives of a pasha and in charge of various responsibilities, it would not do for them to remain so gullible.

So clearing his throat with a small cough, Alexander noted,n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"At least that was the spice merchant selling me the saffron told me. It is a nice story to justify the high price."

"The reality however is far less interesting. Saffron is actually made from the stigmas of a rare flower that grows only in certain parts of the world. It is hard to cultivate and only grows in very small amounts. That's the real reason behind its astronomical price- its rarity and great demand."

"..."

As soon as Alexander said, the room sort of froze!

Even though Alexander thought he was being quite gentle with the revelation, it still stunned them, with many of the girls looking at Alexander with a sort of betrayed gaze.

Even the cute Fabiyana scowled at her beloved big brother for needlessly scaring her like that.

All of them could not believe all the emotions they had just felt now had been a hoax.

"You mean… everything you said was a lie!" Cambyses then slowly squeezed out in the end, her eyes widening with each word.

She would not be impressed if the answer was yes.

"No, the story the spice merchant told me was a lie. I was just retelling what I heard," Luckily, Alexander cleverly defended himself using this rhetoric.

"Lie? Why?"

Cambyses did not doubt Alexander's claim. After all that she had seen with Alexander, this was the least of his surprising qualities.

So she only frowned to seek clarification.

"Hahaha, marketing my dear wife. How else could he sell a spice at the price of gold?" And Alexander cunningly chuckled at the simple answer, "All these spice merchants will tell you all kinds of ridiculous stories about how they get their species… that's how they make those enormous profits."

Alexander half smirked, "Weren't you just feeling so sorry for his dead brother? Hehe, after listening to such a sob story, of course, you will have no problem paying an arm and a leg for the spice. That's how they get you!"

Astonishment and puzzlement quickly turned into anger and resentment among the ladies as Alexander revealed the spice merchant's tricks.

"Then if you knew they were lying, why did you pay so much? Who is this merchant?" Cambyses even venomously swore, threatening, "Tell me! I will have him charged with fraud!"

Her eyes could seen clearly blazing with the intent to order the city guards to arrest the offending party immediately.

"Hehe," While Alexander humorously chuckled at his wife and flashed his palms as a signal for her to cool down.

Then playing a bit of a devil's advocate, answered her question,

"Of course, the merchants do this out of self interest. For them, profit is the end all, be all. This is their nature, so why are you getting angry? Even I advertise my products in many similar ways, hahaha."

"But perhaps even more importantly, they do this to protect their trade routes."

"By making it sound like the spice is incredibly difficult to get, most people will think it is better for these poor merchants to take all the risk and they will just pay a bit higher pray."

"But if everyone knew this spice worth its weight in gold was just a flower… grown in the fields in some not so distant land… well their competition will only increase, won't it?

Alexander clearly noticed how the angry eyes turned softer and even a bit greedy at the explanation as if they were already imagining possessing such fields of their own.

"Hehehe, so there was no giant eagle. The most dangerous animal on this earth is still human." Gelene then at last poignantly added, a sort of mixed relief and disappointment lacing her voice.

While Alexander turned to once again address the table,

"The reason why I did nothing to the spice merchant is because I had no proof that he was lying. I also thought the story was funny and entertaining. I love a good story, real or fictional."

"I also paid full price for the saffron because I know it is not easy to cultivate and transport it over oceans. Even if he had told me how saffron was actually made, I would still pay the same. Because the costs to make it are so high!"

"As I said, saffron is the stigma of a special flower that needs a very specific climate and is very hard to cultivate. You need very skilled farmers."

"Then when it matures, you need skilled hands to harvest them. You cannot harvest them like you can wheat with a scythe. It would absolutely crush the delicate spice."

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"So each and every stalk has to be delicately plucked with expert hands to not damage the stigmas. Now can you imagine how many people would be needed to pluck each flower by hand?"

"Each of those stigmas is almost as light as air. In fact, it takes more than a hundred thousand stigmas to get just one kilo of the stuff."

"And then it has to be dried, crushed, and stored in a cool, moistureless environment, before being transported over oceans, where the air is full of salt."

"So after all that… to get this pristine product…. is it any wonder that the spice cost as much as gold? I actually think it is quite reasonable."

"..."

It was unknown how much of Alexander's opinion the girls agreed with, perhaps not at all, but they did find the real story almost as fascinating.

The tale might sound ordinary to a modern audience, but given the lack of general knowledge during the time, the actual origin of this spice as well as the accompanying lesson was very memorable for all.

They could not help but imagine how golden fields of this flower would look, with a small army of men and women picking the stigmas as quickly as they could.

Even Arrya and Princess Camelia were moved. Although both their countries traded regularly with the outside world, they still had never had this.

For Tibias it might have been that the spice ships just never came and for Iyizarid, well due to their border conflict, they officially did not trade with Sybarsis, the largest trading power in the world.

But at the end of the day, although they understood the price, they were still a bit peeved that they would not be able to have saffron every day.

Thus the 'in charge of the kitchens' Mean was heard mumbling to herself,

"Well at least it is a very strong spice, we do not need much of it. Just a few.. sprinkles of the powder are enough for each meal. I think I can make the stock last for some time."

This caused the rest of the table to burst out into a small giggle, and made Cambyses even jokingly suggest,

"Alex, you said the saffron merchant lied to you to protect his trade routes. But you know the truth. So why don't you try it? You have already conquered so much land. How about you conquer this too? Then we could have this saffron with every drink, hahaha."

She of course produced a mocking chuckle at her own comment instantly, but the others did not seem to get the hint.

Gelene took this suggestion quite seriously and with a cunning glint, nodded,

"Mmmm! It will be like capturing a gold mine. The nobles and lords will surely approve. Especially as the army is not doing anything right now anyway."

"Or if master is still reluctant, you can at least have that pirate captain attack the ships." Even the usually quiet Ophenia joined in the conversation, making this bold, nearly insane suggestion.

It was clear how much she also loved this spice.

Only Mean, the most apolitical of Alexander's wives stayed out.

The man himself of course did not put any of these urgings to his ears, only nonchalantly chuckling,

"Hahaha, well let's see, let's see."

He was of course not going to war over some honeyed words of his wives, especially not over some spice and not when he had so many other pressing matters.

He even wanted to remind them that the amount he made from sugar surpassed any potential gain from that orange spice.

But in the end, in order to not damper their enthusiasm, Alexander added in a somber tone, "Some things are best enjoyed in moderation. If you have good things every day, they cease to be good."

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