The demand that Alexander made a tall one.
A very tall one.
Because making arrows was a very specialized job.
Here was in detail how to make one arrow.
First, the wood would be split and cut to the right length and then planed with a flat plane at first, followed by a rounded one. And then the wood would be smoothed with sandstone. A notch would have to be cut at one end for the bowstring and filled with cow horn or deer antler to prevent the arrow from splitting when placed against the bowstring.
Next, the fletcher would whip and fletch the shaft. Whipping was done to wrap a string around the shaft, which was waterproofed to stop it from warping in storage, and then the feathers would be split and applied to the shaft. These feathers would be cut from the quills or turkeys and placed in grooved or notched lines at the back of the shaft and would then be then sealed in with glues based on animal fat.
An important detail here was to add special compounds to the animal glues that were used which deterred rats from eating the arrows in storage.
Also, there would be only three feathers on an arrow instead of being on all four sides. as because the side that was going to be in contact with the bow had to have none.
And finally, the arrowheads would be fitted into the other end of the arrow which were produced by arrowsmiths.
There were mainly two ways to attach the shaft to the head.
One was to make the arrowhead tail hollow, stick in the shaft, and hammer the tail close.
And the other way was to make the tail sharp and pointy, heat it up, and then push it into the shaft, by burning a hole in the process.
To save time, arrows would be made in batches, with the nock and arrowhead being added to the shaft one day, and then being left to dry for a while, before the fletcher went to work.
And in this way, on average it took about two hours to make each arrow, where half that time would be used to cut the shaft, while each arrowhead took about half an hour to make,
Of course, this was the total man-hours needed to make an arrow.
Thus theoretically one hundred and twenty men could make an arrow every minute.
But in reality, the number was six minutes for every arrow, achieved by working as a group and using the division of labor, where one man did only one very specialized job. 𝘰𝑣𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
It took some time for the slack-jawed Faziz to return to his senses, as he possibly suffered a minor heart attack at the monumental command.
“Master…that’s…” Faziz wanted to let Alexander know just how hard it would be to train one hundred men to make ten arrows an hour in just two months.
This would be a tough task even if that was Faziz’s only job, not to mention he had a myriad of other obligations,
But Alexander paid no heed to it, “I demand such because such speed will be needed to keep up with demand. Thus it needs to be done.”
Alexander paid Faziz the big bucks to make such things happen and Faziz would find out that Alexander was a very generous, but also very demanding lord, his rich rewards locked behind a high-difficulty curve.
Alexander’s tough stance left Faziz no room to argue and so the man could only reply, “I will try my best master.”
“Mmm, good,” Alexander lightly smiled and then decided to give Faziz a few extra perks to help in his endeavor, “You can recruit anyone from my slave pool as you like.”
“And if you have any special request, inform Takfiz or even come directly to me. And it does not have to be just a hundred, if you want, if you think you need more, hire more. Just remember to tell me.” Alexander gave Faziz such power.
This amount of relief made Faziz let out a small breath of relief and he expressed his gratitude, “Thank you, master. Your grace is boundless.”
“Mnnn, Takfiz, remember to give him whatever he needs,” Alexander reminded the old man not to play factional politics and after a few such small exchanges, with dusk imminent, Alexander finally decided to return to his manor.
‘I wonder how Cam’s day has been,’ He thought eagerly about the prisoners and fresh slaves to be had.
The latter was especially very attractive to him as Alexander had felt like his ears were rotting away at all his lords asking him for the same thing, ‘More men’, ‘More men’.
They all were critically short on men.
‘If I keep hearing them asking for more men, I bet I will start dreaming of the word ‘more men’.’ Alexander half-jokingly, half with irritation said to himself as he sometimes fought off the urge to shout to the men, ‘If you want men so much, then why don’t you go home and make some’.
With these bittersweet thoughts in his mind, Alexander approached the manor, finding the place peaceful and tranquil as ever, with large braissers being slowly lit up.
All the staff naturally bowed as Alexander made his way into the house, and after a bath, he sat down for his supper- boiled chicken basted in butter with a lemon-based sauce, fried salmon, and salad with white bread.
“I’m sure you have heard about the incident at the temple, your twin highness,” Alexander addressed as he had his meal, noticing that Azura and Azira had barely touched their plate, their faces pale and downcast.
“…” The twins were so hurt that they did not even reply.
And so the eldest guardian, the Queen mother made the conversion, “*Sigh*, yes. We were all so shocked by the news that all of us felt like being paralyzed for the whole day. I could barely get up from the bed after getting such vile news.”
The queen mother said this in a very melodramatic tone and even seemed to tear up a bit.
This caused Mikaya to silently roll her eyes, ‘Bullshit. You let the news of the priests’ killing go in through one ear and out the next. And then you spent the rest of the day playing cards with me!’
Mikaya had lost all of her yesterday’s winning to the Queen mother and certainly wanted to expose this crocodile tears-shedding woman.
Hellma too had seen what her mother had actually done the entire day and she said to herself, ‘You said that it was likely that Alexander did it. So what’s with the theatrics?’
The queen mother did not know for sure whether Alexander had any part in it, but fortunately for her, she took a stab in the dark and it hit the bullseyes.
“It is certainly a bad look for any lord if the temples in his land are desecrated and their priests killed.” Mikaya gave a gentle smile as she sent a potent jab at Alexander.
‘Bitch!’ Cambyses cursed at this detestable woman, barely holding back the urge to say it aloud.
“Haha, yes, miss Mikaya is right. I’m ashamed of my incompetence as the lord of Zanzan. And it is evident that as a former lowly slave, I really do lack talent in governance. Thus I pray that your lordship may guide me on what to do next,” Instead of flaring up or cursing Mikaya, Alexander only returned the taunt with an even more self-deprecating remark, sarcasm dripping like honey.
Alexander’s answers made Mikaya’s lips twitch and she then swiftly lowered her head to get back to eating after cursing in her heart, ‘Honorless scoundrel’.
She had always found it hard to insult or mock Alexander because he was very much unlike any noble she had ever met.
All the nobles that Mikaya had ever met were many things, ranging from courageous and honorable to meek and timid, to even unscrupulous and a low-life.
But they all had one common trait- pride.
Pride as a noble that they would never let anyone trample.
But Alexander did not seem to have any pride.
Whenever Mikaya or for that case anyone else mocked him for something, whether it be his administrative skills or his low birth lineage, instead of hiding it or defending himself, Alexander would flaunt it, and even go as far as to demean himself even more than the person attacking him.
Alexander’s answer produced a slightly awkward silence, but was soon broken by Azira’s meek tone, “Does your lord know who is responsible?”
“My spies informed me that various city gangs were involved. And we have captured all of them for interrogation,” Alexander gave the girl some uplifting news.
“That’s good.” Azira seemed to cheer up.
“Don’t let them die too easily,” This scary sentence was immediately said afterward by her sister Azura, who had a menacing look on her after knowing the culprits were caught.
‘You girls really hide some sting don’t you,’ Alexander was surprised to see this side of the usually innocent and pure girls.