Reincarnated to the Past 42 (Patreon)

Reincarnated to the Past
Chapter 42

-VB-

The Byzantion succumbed to us quickly. Sure, there were a few individuals who wanted to rise up and fight us, but most of their fighting men were wounded or dead. They were in no position to fight us.

The leading men of the Byzantion met with me at the gates while my troops stayed outside, made camps, and looted the bodies of the Perinthians while returning the bodies of the Byzantion men because they were now my people after their surrender.

And here, I ran into my first problem.

How should I represent myself? If I presented myself as the leader of a band of marauders, then they wouldn’t take me seriously. I was lord over Istria and also the potential heir of the Lower River Kettin tribe. It took me a few moments to decide.

I smiled and extended a hand. “I am the current lord over the King and City of Istria, Alan Marris.”

One of the men stepped forward when no one did and took my hand in a handshake. He was a short man, shorter than most of the Kettin tribesmen “I am Cuciu, leader of the metal shapers of Byzantion.”

I nodded. “Well met.”

We separated.

“You have surrender to me, and I have terms for you to follow.”

“Name them,” Cuciu grunted, ignoring the grumbling from some of his fellow Byzantions(?).

“One, you and all citizens of this city will swear their loyalty to me. And just so you know what happens when you don’t,” I said before my slave-aide walked up from behind and handed me a log thicker than my thighs that he struggled

I snapped it in half with just my strength.

“Understood?”

Cuciu and the representatives looked alarmed but nodded.

“Two, your city attacked Istria while it was under my rule. I was forced to defend them, and as such, I demand that you pay me reparation for that incident alone. For that, I think I will demand that half of the artisans and their families residing within Byzantion will move to Istria. This will happen within five years.

“Three, I will leave a dozen warriors behind to train your men. You will follow their training, and once a year of training is over, you will also send a quarter of these trained soldiers to Istria.

“Fourth and last, there will be no trade tariffs between Istria, Byzantion, and any other future vassals and subject of mine,” I declared. “You can accept these and become my subject or reject them and be subject to … I’m sure you know what happens.”

I had to be a little harsh here, because Byzantion was indeed the city that attacked Istria and endangered not only my brother-in-law but my new subjects.

“O-Our war with Perinthus has already seen t-too much of our men dead, Lord Alan,” Cuciu quickly interjected. “Even if we tried to follow through all of your demands, we won’t be able to carry them out…”

I leveled him a glare. “You know … there are a lot of Kettins back home who would just love to have land to call their own.”

Do you want to be sacked?

He bowed his head. “W-we will comply.”

Please don’t.

“T-Then what about the Perinthians…?”

“I will take care of them. You are now my subjects as well. This means that if the Perinthians continue this war, then I will go to war with them.”

My word seemed to ease them a little.

“Of course, you now have obligations as well,” I smiled. “I will not impose anything upon you right now because you were at war and many of your working men are dead. However, I cannot promise that it will continue on for more than five years. My other demands still apply. Understood?”

“Y-Yes, arcon.”

Right, that was the Greek (weren’t these guys yet to be Greeks, something called Thracians right now?) term for leader of the city, or as close as their titles got to “king” without being king.

“Right. Go back to your regular lives then. Military and foreign matters are now in my hands.”

And the first thing I needed to do was get in the talks with the Perinthians.

-VB-

A week ago, I sent a party of trio to open talks with the Perinthians.

I planned for a lot of things. Considering just how badly they just lost over here at Byzantion, they should have been wary about another attack and so would sue for peace. If they rejected, then I might have to engage in actual field battle, which would be disadvantageous for me. There was also a chance that my envoy might not even reach the Perinthians.

After all, this was the age of the Bronze Age Collapse. Who knew what kind of problems or warlords were out there? I had been safe so far, comparatively speaking, because I had been outside of the known world that suffered the Collapse the worst (to future knowledge), but I was now in it.

What I hadn’t planned, however, was for the Perinthians to reject my offer for negotiation and send the heads of the envoy and his guards.

“AARGGGHHH!!!!” one of the warriors who came with me cried as he hugged the head of his brother. All around us, the Kettin and Istrian soldiers and warriors clenched their jaws and fists, and their demand for this was clear.

“They want a war, boys,” I grunted.

They looked at me.

The Perinthians wanted war badly.

Okay.

Let’s give them a fucking war.