New Vassals

After the fleet of the Holy Order of Alta led by Admiral Niketas Ooryphas conquered Chios and successfully completed the subjugation of the coastal cities and castles of Pergamon, the city received missionaries and administers as well as a branch of the World Tree, in reference to the smaller versions of the World Tree in Alta. The city already housed a sizeable minority of believers in the Goddess of Light, and due to the nature of the local polytheistic pagan beliefs, we suspected that the city will transition to our hands smoothly. the only problem was the military elite Almagovars who were generally unruly and were in great numbers in the city. The ones in the mainland in Pergamon witnessed the might of our army and weaponry and knew they were no match, so it was easier to deal with them, but the Almagovars on the island of Chios only witnessed the aftermath, therefore even though it is a small chance there might be people among them who will hold a grudge regardless of the unimaginably kind and humane treatment of the Alta's soldiers that the city received after the surrounder.

Apart from the military elite of the Almogavars, the nobility and the knights in the service of the King of Pergamon needed to be appeased if I wanted to turn my attention elsewhere. Intimidation through sheer terror and death would work, but that is something I could never bring myself to do against countless ignorant innocents.

The solution to these problems that we thought of was to incorporate these people into the economic system of Alta and introduce the farms, workshops, and factories that we had in the core territories of Alta as well as improve the already existing products and organize them into a better structure. To that end, I roamed across the most fertile and important of the farmlands, winery, olive tree farms, and fruit tree farms of Pergamon accompanied by a great number of the lords, knights, merchants, as well as the princes and princesses of the King of Pergamon. I forced them to come with me, however, I didn't intend to bully them... much.

The majority of the people of Pergamon had already witnessed my magic powers and the institutions and inventions of Alta firsthand. Especially the fact that the courts of Alta used a fair system of judgment that was incredibly hard to be corrupted even by the judges themselves as the lie detector was blind to statutes. The judgment of the Goddess' blindfolded statue, the tilting of the scale, and the precise and fair court system already solved many disputes among the population, regardless of whether they are nobles or freemen(commoners).

My Pergamonian entourage traveled in highly advanced wagons with magic wheels assisting the already powerful horses and ate the packaged foods and quick meals from Alta, which they were dumbfounded to learn were the rations of the soldiers, as what an Altan considers food for a long journey was more nutritious and tastier than the palace food of Pergamon. Half of them fainted after seeing me growing trees with bigger and tastier olives and fruits, and some started to ask to be baptized after seeing me grow the best yield of a crop they had ever seen in a single afternoon, with the help of dozens of plant growth enchantment devices of course.

Throughout the journey, I partitioned the new industries of Pergamon among the people coming with me and further strengthened their loyalty. I talked about various things during this time and taught them most of the things I wanted them to learn. I guess this is what people call Stockholm syndrome, as I took them as hostages and forced them to go on a journey they didn't want, but they ended up being fascinated by me and Alta. I even accepted the prince of Pergamon into my service.

...

Tirant's POV:

I am Tirant Lo Blanc of Pergamon and I was born as the first prince as well as the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Pergamon, and in my 18 years of life, I have never seen anyone similar to Aelius Alkimos Cala.

I was 10 years old when the rumors of the half-elven second prince of Alta being a favorite of the Goddess of Light spread to Pergamon. There are a lot of writings about the supposed saints, prophets, and the blessed people of the Goddess of Light, yet the only difference between them and any other people was their hair that was shinning a little and the amount of magic they had which was only slightly higher than most, in other words, they were not that special. That's why I and the whole court of Pergamon dismissed the rumors as only the attempts of the King of Alta trying to lower the position of his hated first son.

Everyone mocked the shortsightedness of the King of Alta when the supposed blessed prince was sent to govern a province at the age of 5. However, this all started to change after the rumors and the stories told by the merchants who went to Nicea. Some even moved to Alta. It was bizarre that a young child barely old enough to go to the toilet on his own could be so talented, but it was still acceptable. Even after we heard the stories of Alta's army winning against the horse lords from the steppes, we dismissed it as an exaggeration.

It wasn't until we saw the prince's army on our doorsteps after a diplomatic scuffle that we finally realized the truths of the rumors and the fact that they were understated. The prince exposed himself by making camp at a vulnerable location to lure our army and ambushed us in return, then his army destroyed our walls in less than half a day with weapons that were clearly made by God himself. Everyone was either losing their minds from the fear or preparing themselves for death, but nothing happened. The city was spared and as if it was natural, the soldiers didn't even take a second look at the defenseless interior of the city. The look on their faces was absolutely chilling as the loyalty, pride, and conviction of these men were extraordinary as if they were doing the work of a God. Not only the city was spared, but even us who even denied the prince's request of surrender was spared, only to be taken to a prison and in good condition. It was completely a bizarre experience, nothing like what I heard or read. Aelius sent my father to Alta soon after, and apparently, my father was not even sent to the prison, but rather to the palace, as a guest of the King. I was angry at Aelius believing he intended to humiliate us among many other delusions.

Those feelings lasted until I was called to the courtyard by the orders of the prince and witnessed the sight of the biggest tree I have ever seen growing from the ground by the sorcery of the prince of Alta. That was also the first time I saw Aelius. The glowing white hair, the shining purple eyes, and the most elegant face as well as the overwhelming amount of magic power that he casually used made the positions of everyone there crystal clear. If a person like that decided to call himself a God, I thought there wouldn't be much opposition. It was the most terrifying and also the most beautiful sight I have witnessed and will probably witness in my life.

Yet with all that power, the prince himself was kind to us in the aftermath of the ceremony of the planting of the World Tree's Branch. The voice of the prince was magic itself, and the manners and the way he talked to others were almost fatherly as if he was speaking from a place of deep understanding if that makes sense. It should've been funny to see a twelve-year-old child speaking like that to dozens of adults, but no one found the exchange strange. Despite having the power of a God, Aelius himself was humbler and kinder than all. You would expect such a person to be weak-willed, yet he was determined and decisive. After his tasks and our talks, he went on to help his priests in tending the sick and wounded. He almost seemed like a selfless monk, but why on earth a person with such a disposition would be so eager to wage war against others? He didn't even plunder the city, only taking half of the treasury of the conquered cities. An amount of money hardly sufficient to keep the number of soldiers in his army happy, but none showed discomfort at the fact.