Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

A cup slid softly across the table, its metal base whispering against the polished wood like the rustle of silk in a quiet chapel during morning prayer.

Small, pale fingers wrapped around it.

"Thank you," Pontus murmured, lowering his gaze as he bowed his head toward the figure standing across from him.

Alpheo made no reply. He raised his own cup with deliberate slowness, took a long, quiet sip, and set it back down with precision. His eyes never left Pontus's face.

After a moment of silence thick enough to weigh on the chest, Alpheo spoke. His tone was calm, and soft.

"Have you rested well?" he asked, voice cool and even. "It's been a long campaign."

Pontus offered a slight smile, tight-lipped."If it has been hard for me, Your Grace, then I dare not imagine how you endured it. It was but your great skills that carried the campaign forth to success, mine was only but a stone compared to a mountain. "

As humble as a worm, Alpheo thought.So this is the face a man wears when he wants to build a sewer.

He studied Pontus as a predator would study prey already halfway inside its den.

Alpheo set his cup down with a soft but final clink, and leaned forward ever so slightly.

"Don't act the part in a play whose ending is already written," he said "You think me some foppish boy, swayed by flattery and praise? You think your charm might tilt decisions long set in stone?"

Pontus blinked, caught unprepared, his eyes widening before narrowing quickly in embarrassment. The smile faded. His composure fractured like porcelain under strain. He looked like a man suddenly asked to speak aloud in a language he had only ever whispered.

"You doubt I'd keep my word?" Alpheo's voice wasn't raised. He didn't need to. His words struck like a chisel, cool and precise, sometimes a man did not need to raise his voice to express himself .

Pontus bowed quickly again, perhaps to hide the flush crawling across his cheeks."No, Your Grace. Never that. I only— I only questioned whether I had held up my end of the agreement."

Alpheo scoffed—short, sharp, and dismissive."Bullshit." He waved a hand as if brushing smoke from his face."You know damn well you did. And so I'll do mine."

He leaned back, not in ease, but in assertion."The project you dreamed of, it is yours."

There was a stillness in Pontus, the kind that comes when a man hears something too large to believe all at once.

His lips parted ever so slightly. For a moment, he looked like someone who had lived underground all his life and was now staring into the face of the sun.

Alpheo continued, his words as composed as if reading from a decree:"You'll be allocated thirty thousand silverii to begin. If more is needed, ask. It will be given. And if you have requests—any materials, workers, clearances—send them forward. I'll see them considered. Approved, if they make sense."

He paused, watching the stunned gleam in Pontus's eyes, and allowed himself the faintest of smiles , cool and unreadable.

"I won't bother listing expectations. I know better. Putting reins on you now would only slow the thing I'm trying to unleash." He gestured slightly with his cup, as if toasting something only he could see.

His eyes fixed on Pontus, but it wasn't dominance he projected—it was daring.

"In simpler terms," he said, voice just above a whisper, '' go all out."

"Your Grace, I–I…" Pontus stammered, his voice catching somewhere between disbelief and elation.

Alpheo raised a hand, sharp and swift as a blade unsheathed.

"Zip it." His tone cut through the moment like ice. "I don't want to hear a word of thanks. Just do the job right."

Pontus bowed his head, the unspoken gratitude still burning behind his eyes.

"Still, our business is not over." His voice was quieter now, more deliberate. "There's more I have for you. You've played a role far larger than you seem to realize. The capital of our fiercest enemy fell not by sword or siege, but because of an architectural masterpiece—one that was never even meant to be used as such."

He leaned forward slightly, studying Pontus as if seeing him for the first time.

"History may record my name for the wars," he said, "but the books will read yours too.You should rejoice in that."

Whether Alpheo meant to prick Pontus's pride or simply state the truth, the effect was immediate. Pontus straightened, his back stiffening, his chest lifting. His face lit with something just short of awe.

As though he'd been summoned to step into a legend still being written.

"In my eyes," Alpheo continued, "your contribution to this war outweighs any noble who rode into the campaign waving their house banners. And it is only right that you be rewarded for it."

He let the moment breath

"Until now, you have been just a scholar," he said, pausing with a faint, dry smirk."Though you've carried yourself with the arrogance of an emperor." The remark was tossed lightly, but not without bite.

Pontus didn't know whether to smile or sink through the floor.

"For your service," Alpheo said, voice deepening with gravity, "I hereby name you a landed knight of the realm. You will be invested with a fief, its location and borders to be decided soon."

The air in the room shifted.

Pontus stared, stunned. The words seemed to echo in his mind long after they were spoken, as though the very world had tilted slightly beneath his feet. He opened his mouth, but no words came.

He lowered his gaze, bowing deep and slow, hands trembling slightly at his sides.

Pontus had always been a scholar. Learned, precise, indispensable, yes—but still, at the end of the day, a common-born man. A man of ink-stained fingers and humble origins, surviving not through bloodline but wit. He had always been useful that was the reason for his position

Now, that truth had been shattered.

No longer just a scholar.

No longer just a commoner.

He opened his mouth, perhaps to stammer a word of disbelief or thanks, but Alpheo was quicker.

"I'm not finished." The prince's voice carried the finality of a gate closing behind him. "After reviewing the state of our country, and with careful thought given to the direction our policies will take in the years to come, it is undeniable that the restructuring of our infrastructure will be a recurring theme—central, even, to our future strength."

Alpheo leaned slightly forward, eyes locked onto Pontus.

"It is for that reason I have decided to create a new position within my inner council: the Minister of Infrastructure. Each year, you will be entrusted with a state budget, to be spent at your discretion on repairing and maintaining the bones of our realm. Rroads, canals, bridges, aqueducts, and in the same breath, to envision and lead the construction of new ones.

You will build the foundations for the future."

A heartbeat of silence passed. Alpheo's lips curled faintly.

"I believe you know where this is going."

Pontus swallowed hard, and bowed his head deeply."Your Grace… thank you. I am honored beyond words."

Alpheo gave a small nod."Good. Because, naturally, I will require something from you."

Pontus lifted his gaze slowly, his spine straightening with quiet resolve.

"I expect your complete loyalty," Alpheo continued, the words soft but cutting. "And that means severing all the strings you've held on to… until now."

Pontus did not play the fool. There was no point except angering his new master. Alpheo's knowledge was deep, his reach long. They both knew what he referred to.

The Romelian court.And his correspondence with it.

Pontus lowered his head again."Of course. I will cease all contact at once."

Alpheo held up a hand."There's no need for that. You'll write to them, still."

Pontus looked up, uncertain.

"But now," Alpheo said, "you'll write what we want them to read. Feed your former masters whatever story we decide is most useful. You will continue to play the loyal whisper, while your loyalty belongs here."

Pontus gave a slow nod, the weight of the moment anchoring his shoulders.

Alpheo's tone softened then, just a shade.

"And I'll find you a wife." He waved away any protest Pontus might've formed. "You're unmarried. That will change. You will have a household, and a family—here. Roots. You'll belong to this land as surely as the roads you'll carve across it."

He stood, his gaze steady.

"I expect much from you, Pontus. There are not many whose passion for building equals to yours, and fewer with the skill to be on par with it . Now let's see if you can build something worthy of it."

Pontus bowed low, no mask, no pride—just quiet acceptance and the beginning of something far greater than anything he'd imagined.

Free now to pursue another path, with all the strings behind severed.