Steel and Mana

Chapter 79 – 3 Years Later

Waking up, I felt relaxed, happy, and feeling extremely lazy. On my left, Sasha was nestled up to me, while Luna occupied my right, still wearing the ropes around her ankles and a satisfied smile on her face.

"You up?" Asked Yuri, who was stretching, standing naked at the window, looking back over her shoulder with a grin.

"Yeah, I just find it hard to get up..." I moaned, realizing my body was feeling sore all over in every conceivable way.

"Then relax~! Mmhm... I love your invention!" She giggled, looking at the pipes running along the floor, hugging the wall, being part of the heating system. Although the fireplace had its charm, I couldn't help but feel proud of what we achieved in the past three years. By now, all the houses had it installed, and nobody had to worry about going cold in the winter. The only problem we had was CC. We were running out of it. Even the strands were running really low, and I wanted more of it... much more!

"Are you leaving today?" I asked, slowly climbing out, making sure I did not wake the others.

"I should." She nodded, letting me walk up to her and hug her from behind, making Yuri moan happily, pulling my hands onto her chest. "We are almost out of CC, so I need to pull some old stunts and get you more."

"Why not wait for the spring? Leaving after the snow had stopped falling."

"Because I need to get there before spring." She argued, "You read the letter, no?"

"Haaahh... yeah. I did."

In the past years, she became something like a spymaster, which surprised me. She recruited multiple orphans and street urchins from all over my Uncle's territory, training them and sending them out into other parts of the country. We were getting letters from them via pigeons almost every month, informing us of news, and we also got a letter detailing an upcoming auction where CC was going to be sold in bulk.

"Worry not, I'll be cautious!"

"Do be careful." I whispered into her ear, "The tension on the eastern border is high. This could easily be a covert military maneuver or a honey trap, so if you get caught, you will be in deep shit."

"Am I not discardable?" She asked, and I knew she was joking, but I still pinched her nipple, twisting it. "Owie... more... hurt me a bit more~" She moaned, giggling and pushing her lower half against mine.

....
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......

"She already left?" Luna yawned, walking into my study around lunchtime with Sasha while I was reading through today's reports prepared by Merlin.

"Yep." I shrugged, "She took a good amount of girls with her, so she should be fine. She said she will be back around autumn or late into the summer."

"They should be fine; she survived a lot of things." Sasha hummed, calming Luna, but I could see in her eyes that she was also worried for Yuri. However, she would never admit it. "Ugh..."

"What is it?" Merlin asked, looking up from his pile of documents, standing next to me, watching as my wife grimaced, holding her stomach.

"Nothing... It's just a little nausea. I may have caught something. Going out from the warm palace to the cold winter air does that!"

"I should visit Marca's shop and get you some potions!" Luna perked up, ready to go, making me chuckle, but I did not stop her. She did not want her friend to go through the same thing she did previously.

"Are you not worried, My Lord?" Merlin asked, seeing me watch them with a proud smile.

"Nope. I have a feeling that it isn't a sickness." I whispered to him, not explaining anymore. Deep down, I was still hoping, so I didn't want to jinx it, but I think Sasha may be pregnant. Even her breasts began swelling a little, and although I am not following her cycles, it seems to be coming late. Fingers crossed...

"That reminds me!" Sasha clapped after recollecting herself, "I will have to go to the blacksmiths and make a new batch of glass bottles; Marca asked for another expansion for her newly built workshop!"

"I already approved it!" Merlin walked out, giving a thick stack to my wife, "Stamped and sealed with next year's budget included! When the currently away caravans return, we should have another boost to our reserves!"

When our first caravans were sent out, I was amazed by their success rate. One even accompanied my Uncle's people to the Atuvian League last year and established a steady flow of glass in exchange for some of our goods, mainly the scented soap, and perfume. They were sucking it up like no tomorrow.

Still, those were already old items for us... My new inventions were the real deal; the only issue was that I couldn't sell them. It was a catch-22. By now, we can manufacture proper pocket watches... But it also became something that my Uncle warned me never to sell to others. This was something that the Empress of Envy would personally come down to take away... primarily because of its potential within the military's hand. Even Mikan echoed his thoughts, so here I was, holding something precious that I couldn't sell. Shit.

Same with the microscope we managed to build. It was now the exclusive tool of Marca and her Alchemy department. She became our newest minister last year, leading and owning the first Alchemy Guild. What Luna called a potion is, in fact, just rudimentary medicine. Marca is still working it out, and she is a genius in her field. I don't know if it is the different plants in this world, but her brews genuinely have a magical effect. Last year, Luna caught a nasty cold with a very high fever, over 40 degrees Celsius. I was worried because something like that could be fatal in a society like this, but Marca's potions helped her recover. It took weeks, but they did bring down and prevented any future high fevers until she fully recovered, curing her nasty cough along the way.

Those 'drugs' or, as I like calling them, potions were at least something we could trade with. Of course, she was selling multiple other remedies, too, one of which I was unsure why she had developed. Long story short, it is an aphrodisiac that works on both men and women. Yuri bought one and spiked our dinner without telling us, and... well, it may have worked really nicely.

"What is it?" Sasha asked as she caught me daydreaming, looking at her.

"Nothing. I was just adoring my beautiful wife."

"..." The way she blushed and smiled involuntarily was the cutest thing ever.

"How's the pass?" I turned back to Merlin, continuing our daily routine, and he very quickly pulled out the reports. Although he was already a teenager... he still looked like a little boy. An eternal shota? What is this magic?

"General Oleg's report states that they repelled another beast attack. This group also attempted to pass over the minefield, but they did not fly. They began burrowing under the ground."

"Casualties?" I asked, letting out my breath when I heard his answer.

"None. Twelve were injured, but they will make a full recovery. The prototype 'Dragonfire' weapons were also used in the last battle, and none showed the initial issues we were getting when developing them. If we can get a new batch of CC, we can outfit the walls with real Dragonfire Cannons."

"Excellent!"

I couldn't help myself but clap. This was the news I was hoping for. As to what this Dragonfire is, it's, in short, a new variant of Sasha's rocket spell, and it was the first time we used CC strands in crafting something. In shape, it was reminiscent of medium-sized cannons from my world, and when I told them about rifling the barrel, we used CC to inlace it with. Instead of gunpowder or cannonballs, we had Sasha's formation etched into it with four slots, adding the ability to be operated by anyone with nothing but CC at the pebble size. By our tests, the more CC our soldiers put into it, the stronger it became, but using it rapidly at the fourth level had the danger of destroying the cannon and deforming the barrel.

Right now, two were put up on the walls for this winter's beast tide, waiting to be live-tested. Merlin and Sasha took three weeks off for charging a box full of CC in the summer, as it was the main thing that worked as ammunition. With every fire, the pebble put into it would break apart, constantly exhausting our resources, but it was worth it all with our current results. We wasted much more while developing the weapon. It took seven iterations to develop a modified formation with latency in its activation. When we first tried it, the whole thing went boom and destroyed months of work. Luckily, Sasha was uninjured, or I would have never forgiven myself for it.

"How's the power?" I asked, unable to wipe the smile off my face.

"They only used it up to the third level. The barrel shows no damage or cracks for now, but it needed half an hour to cool down after being fired. The first level is the same as the tablets' power. Level two shows at least 45% improvement, while level three performed almost double what the first level is capable of. But this could be the work of CC being at a slightly different size between shots. According to the General's report, it is a resounding success, and the soldiers are loving it."

"What about the range? The targets?" Sasha asked the other crucial part, as it took me time to produce a proper aiming apparatus for the cannon and teach the men how to use it. It was the first time I held courses for our officers, appointing the first batch of artillery specialists, and the first mission where they used it without me instructing them.

"At first, there were issues." Merlin answered with a smile, flipping the pages, "But after readjusting, they managed to hit their targets. Reportedly, they killed six beasts, blowing them to bits with the level three shot."

"I think we can celebrate it then as a success, huh?" I laughed again, feeling really proud. "Send word to my Forgemaster that he and his team will get a juicy bonus! The moment we get more CC, we will start producing more and install them on the walls here and at the pass!"

"I just wish we could have integrated strands into the uniforms..." Merlin murmured, making me stand up and pat his head, making a mess out of his hair that he enjoyed like a puppy. True, but I was also happy to see our soldiers wear it with pride. Dorian did a great job with designing a black, slick military uniform with golden accents. It reminded me of a famous German outfit from an old war... Maybe I should name him Dorian Boss? Nah, he wouldn't get it.

"One day, maybe it will work!" I waved, not minding the failure, "Dorian did his best, but it just did not mesh well with the cloth. They are still CC; it's too rigid compared to regular textiles and turns a simple shirt into heavy armor. We will have to give it another shot with proper plates next time, something like body armor, but as I said... we need more CC. No other way around it."

"I really hope Yuri will be just as successful..." Merlin shrugged, closing the open folders and looking at the rest.

"Me too." I hummed, looking out the window, watching the snowfall begin once again, gifting us with a cold, harsh winter once again. Yet, this time, the pipes were running hot, there was no danger of the water freezing within them, and even the streets of Avalon were being kept clean and lively. It was something that would be impossible a few decades ago. The people would be hiding within their homes in the old days. But today? They were out in the market square, taverns, or at the temple, going about their lives, knowing that a warm house awaited them when they got home. "I think we should head out!"

"To where?" They asked simultaneously.

"If I remember correctly," I grinned, my eyes burning in fighting spirit, "Team Leon is still down two to three against Team Sasha."

"Hah!" She laughed, showing a V-sign with Luna standing next to her, mimicking her every movement. "You two have no chance of beating us!"

"Don't worry, My Lord!" Merlin whispered, cracking his knuckles. "I trained with the other kids at school. I became an expert in snowball fighting..."

"Good... Good! Because this time, the two of them will need to be drenched!"