Herald of Steel

Lady Miranda's new city- Prizzle used to be one of the family's earliest settlements, before they moved to the much more geographically advantageous Caira.

This history was shown through the existence of a large, magnificent marbled mausoleum built right at the center, housing the remains of many of Lady Miranda's ancestors, including her grandfather, and a placeholder piece for her father since his body was never recovered from the sea.

Alexander would enter the place as a sign of their alliance, as well as mundane curiosity- he had never entered such a huge 'temple for the dead' before.

The inside of the stone mausoleum with its huge arches and thick pillars was perhaps even more spacious than it appeared from the outside, with a huge antechamber or hall serving as a gathering place for visitors right behind the huge enormous wooden door.

There were many huge altars built around the walls, all adorned with plates filled with offerings for the dead- which included fruits, bread, honey, and other delicacies, used for the appeasement of the deceased.

The walls were colored with beautiful and elaborate artworks and reliefs depicting various stories of the deceased, while many slaves and servants attended to the place, sweeping and cleaning the place and taking care of the lighting- lighting and maintaining the huge braziers inside.

The other half of the mausoleum led down to the crypts through a spiraling staring, where stone sarcophagy was stacked row upon row, a few stories high, each decorated intricately using gold and jewels, and clearly showing the identity of the man buried here.

Courtesy of this huge mausoleum, much of Prizzle's economy had also developed around it, as observed by Alexander while on a tour of the city.

The vast majority of the shops were overflowing with various religious stone, wood, and metal idols of the gods the Sybarians worshipped or with trinkets like charms, beads, and bangles that seemingly that magical properties such as bringing good luck, warding off disaster, healing the sick to name a few.

And if they were not selling these, then they sold the next most popular thing- food that was offered to the deceased- be they raw like fruits or cooked and baked.

All these shops were designed to cater to the many of the grave worshippers coming to visit the mausoleum since it was not only the Margraves who came to receive the blessing of their ancestors and obtain the favor of the gods- but people from all over their fief.

The deceased lords had the same status as saints in the people's eyes.

This last part was also why grave digging and corpse stealing were rampant in the city, as people believed the bodies of these bodies had magical properties.

So many would try to bribe the guards and servants to get them a small piece of the older, decaying corpses, using them to make the aforementioned charms.

While others would cook and ground up the bones as healthy powered medicine, capable of healing all illnesses, and injuries and even improving the performance in bed when ingested or sprinkled over the top.

As for the most daring of all the grave robbers, they would actually try to dig tunnels and get into the lowermost chambers directly, outright stealing the corpses from right underneath the family's noses.

If successful and they could prove their medicine was truly the genuine one without getting caught, then even a single corpse would be enough to set each man for at least half their life.

But if they were captured, these men would face one of the most brutal executions Margraves had- being bound and buried alive in a stone sarcophagus along with two rats and a few of its babies.

These sarcophagi would have a few slits for them to breathe through, so the way these men would die was by being eaten by the starving rats.

Alexander's body shivered when he was shown one of such 'coffins' by the attending priest who was showing them around, the dusty, moldy smell accompanied by a heavy, stink of rotting flesh making him a bit retch.

He would definitely not want to go that way.

The priest however did not at all notice Alexander's reaction and instead turning to Lady Miranda happily grinned,

"My lady, it is good that you came when you did. These filths are getting more and more daring each passing day. We caught three just the other day. It seems just the pit is not enough for them!"

The 'pit' was a general burial place of the Margraves family.

Find more to read at empire

It was used for those that were not deemed not high ranking enough, or when the mausoleum ever ran out of space and the lesser ancestors had to be taken out.

It was the most basic graveyard in all sense of the word.

And also the best 'mine' for the grave robbers.

"*Sigh*, I am aware! I have repeatedly asked the elders to allow me to build a second mausoleum to solve exactly this, but they have always fiercely declined!" Lady Miranda shook her head in irritation.

As for the reason behind this refusal, well the clues could be found from the fierce reaction the overseer of the mausoleum had just hearing it.

It was the most basic of knowledge among the people here that there could only be one official mausoleum- suggesting a second one be built was tantamount to blasphemy of the highest degree.

And alongside the religious reason, there was also the economic one, as ninety percent of the people in the city depended on income from the pilgrims for their livelihood.

And it was very good income, as observed by Alexander when approaching the suburbs of the city.

Most of the houses around here were made of red bricks or at least fired clay, whereas at any other time, they would mostly consist of thatched roofs and clay.

The people also wore much more colorful and fancy clothes than their counterparts and the number of luxury goods being sold like incense, ointments, oils, high quality fabric, and various exotic delicacies was much higher than what you expect from a city of only twenty to twenty to twenty five thousand.

It was apparent that business was booming.

So although not as big and prosperous as Caira, the city was not a slouch either.

Which was also why opening a second mausoleum was seen so problematic for the people here.

The priests felt it would be like opening Pandora's box.

Because if a second one could be opened, what was to stop a third, fourth, and fifth one?

After all, the number of deceased would only ever increase.

And at one point, mausoleums in other cities could be opened.

This was unacceptable for the people here and thus vehemently opposed by every strata of the society.

In fact, after staying here for a few days, Alexander found that the people here vehemently opposed nearly every kind of change.

They did not even want to improve the dilapidated roads leading to the city because apparently, the slow speed favored the roadside inns.

The reason was that if it took the pilgrims longer to reach the place, it meant they needed to stop more frequently, thus more business.

Alexander was astounded by the business like minds of these 'holy' people,

'Weren't you people serving the gods? Why do I feel like he's actually called gold?'

Of course, although surprised, Alexander was not shocked.

'Working to decrease the suffering of the people and show them the path of eternal life' was perhaps the most hackneyed slogan for every religious group anywhere in this world.

For most of them it was just a means of money and power, or preferably both.

Alexander was very glad he would not have to deal with these crazies.

That problem of developing the surrounding lands solely belonged to Lady Miranda.

...

Alongside touring the city and advising Lady Miranda on some of the ways she could develop it, Alexander also attended a few welcoming parties there, involving a few of the local nobles.

And since Prizzle was also very close to Hamson, he also got to see Lord John there- one of Lady Miranda's potential suitors.

The man was quite handsome, but what really caught Alexander's attention was the lady accompanying him.

Dressed in a fine dress that covered everything from neck to toe, her looks were quite extraordinary.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

She was heavily pregnant, although the trouble was she only looked about twelve or thirteen and wore a somewhat vacant and distraught face.

Combining all this, Alexander quickly recalled an identity- Lady Miranda's illegitimate aunt.

According to what he was told, this young girl was brought up in an orphanage till the age of six, before getting hired as a cooking maid at one of Lord Janus's kitchens, serving food for the guards at the mansion.

It was also there she met her current husband- John, serving as one of Lady Miranda's father's guards before the two fell in love and eloped.

Of course, all sounded too convenient for Alexander.

The most natural question was how could a nameless, nobody with nothing get hired at such a 'prestigious' place like the lord's manor so easily?

The answer was probably her father had arranged this.

Which was also why Alexander became a tid bit know her better.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original site:

/book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705