Herald of Steel

So, if a one-in-all-wonder drug were to be invented that could do all the things Ophenia had described- make one harder, bigger, and better tasting, then Alexander had no doubt that the market would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

As Alexander\'s realization of this possibility dawned, out of cautiousness he re-read the scroll and then repeated one of the inquiries, "Does the medicine have any harmful effects?"

Ophenia with a shake of the head answered negatively.

Alexander did expect this as if there was some major disadvantage, then someone smart enough would have connected the dots over the last few centuries the Shiva temple had existed.

"So, how do you think we should sell this miracle drug?" Alexander tested Ophenia.

The question made the girl go silent as she gave herself some silence to think and then after a bit, said, "I originally wanted our temple to sell this as the divine nectar of the goddess. But the Temple of Shiva is very over-protective of their product. If such a thing were to appear...." Ophenia sent Alexander a meaningful look.

"Hmmm, you are right. Although we are in a land hostile to Thesos, nothing brings enemies closer than money and mutual benefit," Alexander mused out aloud.

The temple might not be able to attack him directly, but they could certainly bankroll forces hostile to him to do it for them.

And although Alexander was not averse to the idea of others attacking him, he wanted such things to happen on his terms, where he would hold the initiative and could stir the situation to his liking, which would be mighty difficult if a foreign, unpredictable power, whose strengths were unknown to Alexander was to join the fray as he doubted his capability to keep a hold on the situation while juggling so many unknown variables at the same time.

People might view Alexander as a scheming mastermind, but the man himself didn\'t hold himself in such high regard, thinking himself to be smart but not any Sherlock Holmes.

And so, he always believed in the maxim of keeping plans simple as the more new elements were included into one, the more steps would be introduced and the more complicated it would become, and the more chances there would be of an unpredictable development.

Alexander already had his hands full with Adhania and soon-to-be enemy Tibias and he was even worried that Cantagena would come knocking on his door wanting Zanzan back.

So, he really didn\'t want to antagonize another power unless he absolutely needed to.

"Hmmm, for the time being, we will sell it secretly in the black market or as bribes to nobles," Alexander made his decision.

And then added, "A few years later the goddess will officially bestow the divine nectar to her believers."

The last sentence was basically said to soothe Ophenia, who certainly felt a bit sour that the drug couldn\'t be sold openly right now as she believed that Alexander\'s religion would skyrocket if they could, just like the Temple of Shiva did a few centuries ago.

But unlike Ophenia, Alexander was not obsessed with preaching his religion and instead, his mind wandered to an interesting conclusion, \'I wonder what will happen when Adhania\'s Legumum comes into contact with the Shiva drug.\'

One was primarily e contraceptive designed to prevent conception and the other was a sex performance enhancer.

And so he posed the question to Ophenia, "Does the medicine increase fertility? Can a woman get pregnant even if she uses the legumum contraceptive?"

Ophenia immediately understood Alexander\'s concerns.

Because if it did, it would become very hard for Alexander to sell the stuff, especially to the nobles, who liked to participate in Adhania\'s unique tradition and would thus find themselves unable to do so if they ingested the medicine.

The drug might even not be too popular with the general populace as they wouldn\'t want to knock up random flings.

Ophenia did not know the answer to Alexander\'s question as legumum was strictly kept within Adhania, and even if the temple of Shiva did get manage to get their hands on the stuff, the results were not within her knowledge.

"I\'m sorry I cannot answer that question," Hence Ophenia informed her master.

"Umm, then we will need to find out. We don\'t want to be responsible for a wide-scale scandal," Alexander prudently decided to hold some long-term tests.

Ophenia silently agreed to this with a nod, her zeal for immediately starting the sale of the drug dying down a bit.

But then quickly she thought of a way to speed up testing, "Master, I have an idea. Please let me set up a brothel!"

This request made Alexander open his eyes in shock as he feared for the reputation of his temple, \'A sacred priestess running a brothel? Ridiculous!\' he thought incredulously.

Those were basically two diametrically opposing professions, one that symbolized purity and chastity and the other immorality and lust, and to have a person be both seemed paradoxical and even blasphemous to Alexander.

Seeing Alexander\'s almost scared expression Ophenia would not help but laugh, "Hehe, master\'s reactions are too funny. And to think I once thought master would keep that calm, stoic face even if the sky fell on him, hehe."

Alexander wasn\'t in the mood to be laughing and only thundered, "Explain!"

Although he was sure Ophenia could not just make random demands, if she did now, Alexander fully intended to punish the girl.

"Haha, why does master seems to think the sacred priestess cannot run a brothel? After all, aren\'t almost all the prestress of the Temple of Shiva both priestesses and whores?" Ophenia corrected Alexander\'s worldview.

\'Yes, that\'s right! I was thinking with my old values.\' Alexander felt his eyes open as before he had always subconsciously equated the priestesses to nuns, who were always officially chaste and pure, and thus this grave reaction.

So, he asked for details, "What are your thoughts?"

With a sweet smile, Ophenia elucidated, "Master, I will be the sacred priestess by the day. But after dark, the priestesses under me can run a brothel."

"They can give a special drink to the customers that will be the Shiva drug will they use the legumum themselves. And in this way, we can find the results very soon."

Ophenia came up with a surprisingly good plan.

And further bolstered her plan by saying, "And as such the customers will be unaware of anything specific and the girls will always be under me."

Alexander found many parts of the plan to be a genius masterstroke.

It was far better than his plan which was to use prisoners as forced lab rats and thus decided implement go with this plan instead, albeit a bit differently.

But before he said his own revised plan, he wanted to know how much more ahead Ophenia had thought of her plan.

"According to you, the priestesses will have to work both day and night. Won\'t they get tired?" He asked an obvious question.

"Of course not every priestess will work both shifts. They will be rotated," Ophenia gave a very simple solution.

Alexander satisfied with the answer then asked another probing question, "Hmmm, priestesses engaging in such activities. What do you think the people will think?"

"Hehe, master worries too much. The people will think nothing at all." Ophenia waved her hands brusquely as she giggled.

And then gave her reasoning, "The temple of Shiva also had those concerns but found that instead of stunting their growth, the prietresses\'s whoring themselves only made the belief spread faster."

"After all, the common peasants don\'t ever even dare dream of touching the mighty priestesses, much less lay with one in bed."

"And so when this opportunity was given to be in exchange for changing their faith, people came in droves."

Ophenia certainly made some very convincing arguments about her plan and Alexander would admit her proposal what a very high chance to work.

And he expressed such thoughts with a pleased smile, "Your proposal is very good. And I\'m very pleased that you could come up with such a robust plan in such a short time."

Alexander\'s praise produced a shy, coy smile from Ophenia.

But then Alexander gave some of his nitpickings. "But for me, it seems a mistake to blatantly copy the Shiva temple\'s strategy for Adhania."

This made Ophenia look at Alexander in askance, as the latter delineated, "The people of these two regions are very different. While Thesos is a hodgepodge of different gods and beliefs, its people mostly pagans, Adhnaians are all monotheists, and they already have a preconceived notion of a priestess."

And with the following words, Alexander gently rejected Ophenia\'s plans "And I think it would not be wise to shake that."