But on the other hand, what earned him the most praise was the magnanimity and mercy he showed as a conqueror.
He defeated his grandfather, who had tried to have him killed, yet still allowed him to live by his side and enjoy his remaining years in peace. He defeated Lydia, Persia's longtime enemy, yet continued to treat the Lydian king Croesus as a fellow monarch, even listening carefully to his advice. He conquered Babylon, then personally sent orders forbidding his army from disturbing the people and instructing them to respect local customs and religious beliefs.
Objectively speaking, this Persian king could even be called a moral exemplar among emperors.
In history, Cyrus the Great conquered so many nations and civilizations, yet those civilizations did not wither into silence because of it. Instead, they flourished, and even some that had nearly vanished were given new life. At that point, his actions could no longer be explained simply as imperial calculation or political performance.
Rather than a conqueror of civilizations, he was more like an admirer of them, using mercy and ability to build a vast, stable empire.
Under the force of that overwhelming charisma, the great hero Arash, the Magus Scheherazade, and even the mountain folk of the Vulture's Nest all gathered beneath the banner of this Persian king and answered his call.
And precisely because of that, Samael found him even more troublesome.
The enemy's hero is my enemy.
And the best kind of enemy hero is a dead one.
If this great emperor had simply died quietly in the City of Seven Hills or the Land of Nothingness, Samael would not have held back his praise.
But Cyrus was absurdly hard to kill. The Ancient Serpent had failed to eliminate him twice.
The first failure could at least be excused as acting in too much haste.
But the second time, Samael had gone to enormous lengths. He had even thrown in nearly half of the Roman legions as bait, patiently waiting for the catch.
And yet, at the very last moment, Angra Mainyu, one of the two Persian gods, actually descended by taking over a vessel and unleashed indiscriminate slaughter, successfully holding Samael back and taking the blow in Cyrus's place.
Even Samael himself had been badly wounded by Angra Mainyu's dying curse, and now no longer had the strength for another battle.
That kind of luck left the Ancient Serpent cursing inwardly in helpless frustration.
What a damned world. There was no getting around luck. The unlucky simply could not beat the lucky.
As his thoughts came back together, Samael lifted a hand and tapped the tabletop with a bent finger, then looked toward the Old Man of the Mountain with a meaningful gaze.
"By the way, I heard this benevolent emperor was practically a savior to the ancestors of Israel, and that those Jews even honor him as [God's Instrument] and [King Cyrus]."
According to legend, after King Solomon died and ascended to heaven, the Jews split and founded separate kingdoms. But because they were too weak, they were conquered and ruled by different nations and peoples, and their situation only worsened with time.
Later, the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar II of Neo-Babylon. While Neo-Babylon was at war with Egypt, those Jews proved less than content with the status quo. So, under King Zedekiah's leadership, they broke their oath and joined the other small states in the region that were subject to Neo-Babylon, rising up in support of the Egyptians and turning traitor.
As a result, once the war ended and Neo-Babylon had its hands free, the Babylonians, enraged, gathered their forces again and launched a second siege of Jerusalem.
That siege lasted eighteen months. In the end, because of famine and internal division, Jerusalem fell.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Neo-Babylon at the time, utterly hated the Jewish king for betraying him again and again. He ordered several of Zedekiah's sons killed in front of him, then had Zedekiah's eyes gouged out.
When the now-blind Zedekiah was dragged before Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king told him, "This is what comes of betraying me." After that, he ordered Zedekiah to be bound in bronze chains and taken to Babylon for public display.
And to punish the Jews and prevent such repeated betrayal from happening again, Neo-Babylon sacked all of Jerusalem. Its walls were torn down, and the Temple, the royal palace, and many homes were burned to the ground.
Nearly all the surviving inhabitants of the city were carried off to Babylon. This became the famous historical event known as the Babylonian Captivity.
In the end, Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, took the ancient city of Babylon without a fight.
He issued a proclamation allowing the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
By rough estimates, more than forty-two thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem at the time. The benevolent Cyrus the Great also returned to their leaders 5,400 gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar II of Neo-Babylon had looted from Jehovah's Temple in Jerusalem and placed in the temples of Babylon, allowing them to bring those treasures back as well.
And so, Cyrus the Great became the savior of the Jewish people, and his deeds were even recorded in the Book of Ezra in the Bible.
But according to the usual logic and wonderfully peculiar line of thought in Judaism, although Cyrus was the one who saved them, the one they were meant to thank was God.
It was God who had sent this messenger to save them.
And so Cyrus came to be known as [God's Instrument] and [King Cyrus].
So when Samael brought up the Babylonian Captivity in front of the Old Man of the Mountain, there was clearly more to it than idle conversation.
"This emperor follows Zoroastrianism..."
The Old Man of the Mountain's expression shifted slightly, then quickly settled again as he spoke in an even tone.
"If I remember correctly, in Zoroastrian doctrine, fire represents light."
Samael tossed a date into his mouth and chewed, replying in a tone of quiet amusement.
"In the Old Testament, Leviticus 24:1-9 records that God is light."
And during the crisis of the Three Storms of Uruk, that Lord revered as the God of Gods and King of Kings had once been their common enemy.
The Old Man of the Mountain was silent for a moment before answering in a low voice, his deep eyes fixed on Samael.
"That... proves nothing."
And indeed, linking Cyrus to Jehovah was nothing more than speculation. Samael had no hard evidence to offer.
But as long as he managed to plant a thorn between the Old Man of the Mountain and Cyrus, the Ancient Serpent had already achieved his goal.
This time, Hassan-i-Sabbah took a long while before speaking again.
"The Persian Empire attacked Greece and Rome to seize something known as the Greater Source of the Planet. Legend says that whoever obtains it can recast this star and rise above the gods. If that King of Kings were to obtain it, old man, you should be able to guess the consequences."
Samael leisurely drained his cup of jellab in one go, then gestured for the dumbstruck Jingmi to refill it.
Hassan-i-Sabbah's brow gradually tightened, light and shadow shifting through his eyes as he remained silent for a long time.
To be honest, despite all the suspicious signs, Samael's conclusion linking Cyrus the Great to Jehovah might not actually be correct.
Judging from what happened in Greece last time, that King of Kings had become increasingly secretive and slippery, rarely stepping into the open and exposing himself.
Even the Grand Assassin before him had failed to notice anything unusual about Cyrus, which mostly suggested that the connection between that God and Persia was not necessarily that close.
Even if there really was some hidden link between them, Jehovah was more likely working behind the scenes, nudging things along rather than intervening directly.
But what did that have to do with him? He was not here to play detective. Right now, his only job was to smear Cyrus, not verify the truth.
And once suspicion took root, it would spread like weeds.
From that moment on, a crack in the relationship between the Assassins and the Persian Empire became unavoidable.
Only then would he have a chance to take that card into his hand and complete the second step of his plan.
As for why he did not reveal his identity as a god to win over the Assassins...
Heh. It was true that he was the prototype of Azrael, the Angel of Death. But that King of Kings, Jehovah, was the prototype of Allah, and the Old Man of the Mountain still stabbed him all the same, didn't he?
In this rotten world, it was not as though there were no people who wanted to slay gods, could slay gods, or had already slain gods.
So personal ties were personal ties, and positions were positions. Shared interests and aligned demands were the true foundation of cooperation.
Do not think too little of yourself, and do not think too highly of yourself either.