Herald of Steel

The shop assistants quickly packed Alexander's order into six beautifully leather and velvet bound boxes, four large rectangular ones for the necklaces and two small squared shaped ones, the size of one's palm for the two pairs of earrings.

And all while they did this, they let out enormous sighs of relief that they found their owner to deal with the big shot, the biggest shot south of the capital.

They did not even dare to imagine what would have happened otherwise.

And hence, if they knew a certain guard had almost dragged the prestigious pasha in on his own, he would not only have not received any thanks for the increased business, but the man might even have to call in sick tomorrow due to a broken leg for all the stress he caused for the entire shop.

But without knowing it, these men all just secretly gnashed their teeth while working as fast as possible.

…..

Morus watched the men work diligently to get Alexander's order ready as he turned to the sitting man and chimed with a slightly troubled face,

"My lord, the choice of your jewelry is certainly exquisite. It's just that Lady Cya had also brought a very similar set not too long ago. So…."

As the man trailed off, the hidden meaning behind these words was crystal clear.

In Adhanian society, it was too scandalous for two noblewomen to wear the same jewelry.

It would be seen as one copying the other, which naturally meant denigrating oneself below the other's status.

That is one of the main reasons why most jewelers usually went to a noble's house to sell their wares- they were there to get a completely unique design just for that lady based on her preference.

"It's okay. They will only wear it at home. I am really just buying them for the drinks your shop gave me!"

However, Alexander simply waved his hands like the nove riche he was, casually brushing these extraneous concerns in a languid tone.

"....." The extravagance in the simple man's words left Morus more stunned than anything else.

Alexander had bought almost ten thousand ropals worth of jewelry in the blink of an eye without even asking the price.

And now he was saying it was just to pay for a cup of wine?

The richest commoner in Zanzan felt his world half spinning.

"Hehehe, as expected my lord. The scale of your breath and magnanimity… truly knows no bounds." Thus it was only after a while that he was finally able to squeeze out an ugly smile, "Hehehe. I truly feel like my eyes have been opened, hehe. I…."

With the slightly foolish way Morus was laughing, it was clear his head was not there. It was too busy trying to wrap its head around what Alexander had just said.

Hence, much of his flattery felt flat and disingenuous, although he was in no state to even realize this.

As for Alexander, he honestly did not mind.

By this point, he had heard all types of flattery from poor, broken ones made up on the soft to meticulously crafted ones created by some of the most skilled orators.

He was also not surprised by Morus's reaction because while it was true the man was rich in every true sense of the word, in front of him, in relative terms he was a paper.

After all, the merchant was 'only' worth a few million ropals at best. And that was including all his assets. In terms of liquid cash, he might even have a hard time buying all the things Alexander had

so casually.

In context, Alexander owned basically everything around here- large parts of Zanzan, the entirety of Tibias, and even a small part of Galiosos.

Thus he even technically owned Morus himself.

Even the lands owned by the hereditary nobles were on paper owned by him- they just got to administer the land on his behalf in perpetuity.

The reality was of course much greyer, but the law technically said this.

And even discounting this, just Alexander's raw cash reserves alone reached the range of hundreds of millions.

If he counted all the debts he owed from Pasha Farzah, Lady Miranda, Ptolomy, and other smaller parties, that value would easily reach billions.

These various powers often bought from Alexander on credit because they would not have that much cash on hand. Basically, they all ran a trade deficit with him.

So each year, they would pay back a portion and defer a large part to the following annum.

In fact, this was starting to become a bit of a problem as Alexander began to hoard more and more of all the available coins in circulation. It seemed his business might have been a bit too successful, possibly many jealous ire.

But that problem was for another time to discuss.

For now though, Alexander simply accepted Morus's flattering with a nod, then getting up with some difficulty, simply spoke, "Send the bill to the manor by this week!"

Alexander said this because naturally he and his entourage did not carry so much coin with them.

"Ahhh, yes, yes, of course." And the experienced jeweler was of course no stranger to such methods of payments and thus vigorously nodded.

This was indeed the way all nobles did business.

He even added with an oily smile, "If my lord finds it agreeable, I can even treat all these as a gift to the missus. What do you, Lord Pasha?"

Morus had very tactfully worded this sentence because a man gifting jewelry to a woman had a very 'amorous' connotation in Adhania.

Thus he certainly did not want to court death by making the pasha misunderstand.

"Send the bill." Alexander simply repeated his order in a pallid voice, not even willing to weigh that option. As if he was going to owe the man a favor over such a trivial purchase. Nothing in this world was free.

The clever jeweler also did not dare bring up the topic after that, and would indeed personally visit Alexander a few days later with the bill.

But he would also not come empty handed, instead bringing with him a barrel of the finest Zanzan wine, claiming, "Since my lord visited my humble shop over the wine, I hope you will find this meager present pleasing."

….

Back to the present, Alexander finally walked out of the huge shops with the six boxes being carried by his men, finding great relief in his legs as he walked.

After walking for so long, his legs had been killing him. So that rest was a godsend.

As for the excuse he gave Morus about buying the necklaces, well it was only half true.

The real reason he brought the six items was because he wanted to bring something back home for the girls. It was not every day he visited the markets after all.

As for his choice of the type of jewelry, well as he had four wives, he bought the four, elaborate necklaces.

While Princess Camelia and Fabiyana who had a lower status, only got earrings.

Now, this was not to say Alexander was inherently discriminatory towards the latter two.

It was just that Adhanian etiquette simply dictated such behaviors.

If Alexander were to start treating his concubines the same as his wives, it would cause such chaos in his home that the four might end up taking up pitchforks against him.

But even then, feeling a bit unfair, Alexander mused to himself, 'Sigh, maybe I should have brought two pairs of earrings for each of them. That would have been more fair.'

However, he was already out of the shop and reluctant to go back.

Plus, he had already spent quite a lot, perfectly showcasing how although having multiple women had many of its perks, it was very high maintenance too.

This was especially true for a man like Alexander, who tried to be as fair to all of them as possible.

If it was another man, even if he had the capability, he might have only settled for just gifting his main wife and left the others hanging. This was quite common in Adhanian culture.

Thus feeling he was being already generous enough and not wanting to spoil the girls, Alexander decided to take note of the time and resumed his tour.

…..

After visiting the goldsmith, in the artisan category, there was only one type left for Alexander to see- sculptors or stone workers.

These people, as the name suggested, worked with marble, limestone, and other 'soft' stone, as well as hard rocks like granite, and onyx.

But they were not builders- i.e.- they did not work in the construction of buildings and infrastructure. Stone like that was used primarily by the engineers and architects.

Sculptors on the other hand were primarily tasked with making patterned decorations for buildings, like in Morus's shops and statues for temples and nobles, depicting the gods, heroes, and even the clients themselves.

Thus with only the ultra rich and powerful being able to hire their service, they had a very limited number of customers.

Hence like the gold shop, there were only two such large shops.

But that did not mean they were sitting empty handed doing nothing. As a matter of fact, business seemed to be booming.

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