Alexander found Cambyses's question and the looks being sent his way to be quite funny, one which caused him to chuckle.
And when that caused Cambyses to glare and pout, Alexander in a breezy tone asked, "And how do you suggest I punish them?"
"Fine them? Remove them from their posts? Or even capture and execute them to appease the city?
Alexander of course added the last option as a joke.
"....." And facing Alexander's hypothetical question, Cambyses did not immediately answer but turned to face him.
"Acheveiments should be rewarded, and failures punished. I thought it was you who taught me that," She icily commented.
Cambyses felt it made no sense for Alexander to simply wave all the mistakes made away.
And hearing this Alexander first responded to it with a pursed smile, and then calmed her down, "There is no need to be so hasty, Cam. There will be lots of time to settle old scores. After all, no one says we cannot take actions two, three even five years from now, hehe." Alexander ominously chuckled.
And then ignoring Cambyses's surprised look, he spoke in a revealing tone,
"The reason why I did not scold, or even say anything today was because I believe in second chances."
"And this was me giving them a way to fix their mistakes."
"As I said, all of them are new to this. So it was inevitable they would make mistakes. To err is human after all…though I did not expect them to fail so quickly," Alexander half-consciously added that part.
But then regaining his deep voice, once again continued,
"And punishing people just for failing just once is not a good idea. Then they will be scared to try new things and I will have to personally everything by myself.."
"So by saying what I said at the end, my hope is that they will take that as inspiration to work diligently from now on."
"If that happens, then it will be truly good." Alexander nodded his head.
"But if they don't, if they think my mercy as weakness…." Then suddenly his voice turned menacing, "Hehe, well…." and he only chuckled with a chilly light in his eyes.
Though some of the more intelligent ones did, some of the council members were yet to understand that behind Alexander's lukewarm admonishment lay the true test, one through which he wanted to separate the ones truly striving to work hard and make contributions, from the others who only knew how to throw puffery and empty praise, while leeching off him.
And Alexander believed he would not have to wait long to see the signs.
"Mmm, okay, If that's what you want, then so be it." While hearing this Cambyses, only commented such, she herself being more of the opinion that it might have been better to kill the chicken to scare the monkey as a kind of warning to others.
Not literally kill anyone of course, but certainly came an example out of one or several.
But since Alexander had made his decision, she would respect it.
Hence with that done, Cambyses moved on to her last question.
"But Alex, even if they work hard, are you sure they are capable of doing their task competently?"
"Have you wondered about that? Whether someone like Heliptos can really do his job. His abilities are certainly not impressive." Cambyses posed,
And this query certainly poked at one of Alexander's weak spots.
People like Helipotos were not exactly chosen for the post for their competency but more for their loyalty.
And though that had helped him stabilize his rule over the city in the short run, it also produced some problems as revealed this time.
But Alexander was right now not willing to institute these changes.
And he revealed his reason by saying,
"Let's not get into debates over whose faults which mistake was and who to replace where. We have already lost a lot of good men, and even finding replacements for them will be tough."
"We can wait to throw the rotten apples later."
"So for now, instead of tearing ourselves, let's concentrate on healing."
"And we can think about moving people from their posts once the teachers Pasha Farzah promised arrives and we manage to raise a few talented people."
"I will then definitely make Heliptos and others like him irrelevant."
And hearing this promise, finally, Cambyses felt placated, so she silently nodded.
While sensing his wife quieten down, Alexander felt it was his time to get some questions in, as he asked the all-important question,
"By the way, you mentioned Tibias wanting the gold in the manor. So did they?"
The tone is his voice said that he really hoped they didn't.
And for once he got a good answer, as Cambyses beamed a smile and shook her head,
"No, they tried but didn't. Almost everything is there. I personally checked."
"*Wheew*" And this made Alexander finally give a big sigh of relief.
If he lost his gold atop of all these losses, he might have truly fallen into the nadir.
He was also never worried about the gold coins being damaged as gold had a melting point above 1,000 degrees, whereas house fires typically only reached 700 to 800 Celsius.
Plus, even if the coins were truly damaged, with bits of it melted, still, the gold was never gonna evaporate.
So all Alexander would have to do was recollect the solidified drips of gold and recast the coins.
A relatively painless process.
"And what about you? Did you manage to do the things you went for?"
It was then Cambyses's turn, and to this Alexander nodded lightly,
"Yes, mostly. I can at least mint the ropal. I will tell you about the details later."
After all, everything that happened in Adhan would take some time to explain, and not something that could fit into a carriage ride.
And speaking of carriage rides, Alexander only now remembered that with his house gone, he didn't know where he was going.
He had simply gotten into the vehicle as Cambyses indicated.
"By the way, where are we staying tonight?" So he asked.
"One of the noble houses in the western district. The one you picked before. I asked Mean to go prepare it for us." Came the swift, succinct reply.
The houses Cambyses was referring to were the many abandoned houses belonging to nobles who fled Zanzan with Muazz, all of which then Alexander seized, converting them into either guest houses for visiting dignitaries and guests or giving them to his retainers as gifts.
Of course, he kept two nice bungalow-type houses for himself just because he liked the house.
"That's good. That's good." And so hearing Cambyses preparing those places he had yet to stay, Alexander was pretty pleased.
"Will Nanazin and the twins be too staying with us? I haven't had the time to meet them," He then additionally asked.
Alexander felt it would be a bit rude to not even meet these important guests after entering the city, especially given the ordeal they suffered.
"No. The house doesn't have enough bedrooms. So I arranged for them to stay at the other bungalow." But Cambyses informed with a shake of her head, dashing a bit of Alexander's hope, then posing,
"Do you want to go visit them now? I can ask the carriage to take a detour. We are not too far away."
"..." And hearing this Alexander considered it for it a while, knowing the two houses being in the same district meant the time needed would not be too long.
So though his tired body very much wanted to just go home and hit the bed, he felt it was his duty to at least show his face to them and speak a few words.
"Okay. Let's go just say hello." Thus Alexander nodded.
And so soon after the luxurious carriage parked itself in front of a large, ornately decorated wooden gate, overlooking a huge two-story bungalow.
There were two city guards posted at the gates, who upon seeing the crest of Alexander's carriage and his entourage immediately let them inside, and after crossing the stone-paved short walkway, Alexander was soon face to face with the six ladies.
"Oh, it is truly an unexpected pleasure to see, my lord. I heard you arrived only today. So I never expected to meet you so soon." Nananzin courteously began as her personal maid served the guests some wine and fruits.
"Haha, sorry to bother you at this time. I got caught up in…. viewing the city, haha," While Alexander's chuckle was a bit sheepish like he was embarrassed about his loss.
And just like that the group exchanged some pleasantries and light-hearted banter, which covered a whole host of topics.
Alexander first apologized for the painful and scary experiences they suffered, and while Nanazin was very understanding, the twins seemed to glare and say, "Bad man, you seem to get into wars every month. That's not good."
And this was an advice Alexander took to heart, reminding himself not to get into any battles anytime soon.
Afterward, he also thanked them for their contributions during the siege, especially the twin's sermons, while also promising to make the city much safer.
Following this, he moved to a cheerier topic where he talked a bit about his adventures in Adhan, about the Jtaama and the party, though he made sure to avoid mentioning Ptolomy or her father.
And with all these said, and the night having truly and well descended, he decided to finally take his leave.
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