Steel and Mana

Chapter 85 – No Escape

"Don't worry, it will be alright!" Merlin chuckled, patting Mikan's hands after he arrived at the palace.

Only the three of us were in the throneroom now as my Mom refused to let Sasha accompany us. What if that old witch does something? Well, I had to agree with her question, so she and Luna stayed back, soothing my wife, who now was acting more like a child, throwing tantrums here and there.

"New designs?" I asked, helping him unpack the different bracelets he brought over from the workshop. Some looked surprisingly slick, while others were larger, elegant, and made out of solid gold.

"Yep! The Forgemaster's apprentices practice creating jewelry that is then sent out with the caravans! They sell really well, and we mostly export them to the Atuvians to not raise too much suspicion within the Empire. Of course, these ones are designed with a slot for CC, hehe, so these are for local usage!"

"Sooner or later, someone high enough will learn about us. The more we interact with others, the higher the probability is for it to happen. For now, they still look at us as if we were the barbarian assholes of the Empire, but give it a few years, and that will change."

"Are we prepared for that?" Mikan asked with worry in her eyes, and my answer didn't help, even when I said it with a smile.

"No. We are not. What I am hoping for is the Empire's tendency to wage wars. While a fire rises somewhere on its borders, we will be low on the priority list. I keep paying my tithe, even a bit more than usual, so rumors spreading of our antics could be overlooked and attributed to simple jealousy."

"What we need," Merlin hummed happily while examining the current bracelet on Mikan's wrist, "is a higher-level noble friend or one we can blackmail. Or pay off. Somebody who can smooth it out within the capital city and make bureaucracy work as it is intended, obfuscating our dealings and presence."

"What have you been making him read, Lord Leon?" Mikan asked, turning to me with an accusing look.

"Don't let his boyish countenance fool you; Merlin is a fully-fledged adult in my eyes. The only thing he lacks is a woman's touch."

"Ugh! Not fair! Don't talk about it like that, Sovereign! It is unfair! Bully!" He yelled, turning redder than the setting sun on the horizon's edge.

"Weren't you approached by some of your students?" I continued teasing him, grinning, helping Mikan relax in the meantime. "I heard you refused them all! Are you that picky?"

"I am not interested in having a relationship! Hmph! My love is knowledge!"

"What if you need to learn about the body? What then?"

"That can be done too, without taking it to a weird place, My Lord!"

"Sometimes, I worry about you..." I shrugged, giving up, and continued rubbing his head, which was already a habit of mine. "So? How is it, my Prime Minister?"

"Stiff." He answered, using a hand-held magnifier, "There is visible degradation on the CC's surface, which had some type of freezing effect. If it spreads, the formation would have been destroyed before the CC. Weird... Anyway, no wonder the thoughts of Miss Morningstar are seeping out. It is best to slap on a new bracelet and remove the old one before it deteriorates more and cracks apart."

"Let's do it quickly... she is not happy!"

"Is she talking to you? Right now?" I asked, looking at her, raising an eyebrow, and Merlin listened quietly, just as curious.

"Yes, she has been swearing that both of you will die a painful and slow death."

"Oooh, how scary..." I grinned while my favorite minister snorted like an old man.

"Let her try! I would easily contain her consciousness in a separate formation before she has a chance to do anything funny!"

"Wait, what?" I flinched, looking down at him, nudging his body, "Don't stop and look at me like a hamster! Do continue!"

"Oh, I mean, when I am at home and bored, I usually play around the magic formations we have in use and try to upgrade them!"

"First of all, Merlin, how the heck do you have time to feel bored? Second, excuse me, but when I told you to take the weekends seriously and rest, I did not mean to bring more of your work back home!"

"It isn't work, it's fun!" He protested, stomping in place and looking wronged while we exchanged incredulous glances with Mikan. "I already have an upgraded version that is much more potent! I mean, I memorized it; I just never tested it out because there are no mages here besides us!"

"What does it do?" Mikan asked, stealing the words from straight out of my mouth.

"In theory, the formation should shut down parts of a person's mind, including its emotions, and prevent them from free thoughts. Make them more controllable. I got the idea from the one where it changes how others see us! Hehe! Owie?! Leooooon, whhhhhyy?!" He cried out, looking at me with teary eyes because I gently slapped the back of his head, making him almost trip.

"That sounds like a nefarious and nasty spell, one suitable for the evil villains in your stories! What the hell are you doing in your free time? Geez! So, how confident are you about its effects?"

"P-pretty sure..." He murmured, sniffling, playing with his fingers, acting like a puppy after being scolded. "Around 90%..."

"What are you thinking about, My Lord?" Mikan questioned, gulping while I crossed my arms, thinking silently for a little.

"I don't get reincarnation. Nor how it works. What I do know is that there is magic within your body, Mikan." I began my explanation, looking at her and scanning her from top to bottom. "I am just not sure if it truly belongs to Mikki-2 or not. She said she woke up in you, your consciousness already formed. Now... who is to say she didn't steal your magic for herself? I always found it suspicious that she didn't talk to you for decades... Why was that? Would you have been able to wrestle the control back over the mana that is rightfully yours if she did so?"

"..."

"There is more! Let's entertain the thought that she was honest about it. That the mana is hers, tied to her spirit. The fact, and it was her who mentioned it, that you could tap into it periodically tells me a lot. It also means you could have gained control if she had let you!"

"You are trying to say that... I could have been a witch?" She asked with a weak and meek voice, her hands trembling as she tried to calm down.

"Maybe. Maybe not. It is possible that you would be weaker than an ordinary witch if the mana is borrowed from her. We can't say because we don't know. But! But... We can find it out."

"..."

"Mikan."

"Yes, Sovereign?" She asked, flinching, looking into my eyes.

"What is she saying now?"

"She... She has been... quiet."

"See?" I grinned, licking my lips, "The little bitch knows we are onto something. Her silence is just as good as acknowledging that some of my theory is viable."

"Are you... going to do it now?" She whispered, and I could read the fear in her eyes.

"No." I replied while clicking one of the luxurious-looking gold bracelets on her other hand, slotting a fully charged CC into its place before removing the faulty one. "Not yet. Merlin, I want to see your plans. Please work out a prototype formation, and we will begin smoothing it out. Then... when we are ready, and you also want to try it," I continued with a smile and patting Mikan's hand, "we can make it so that it will be Mikki-2 who is going to be in big trouble while you get back what should be yours."

...
....
.....

"I miss you..." Sasha whispered into my ears, leaning against me after we finished our dinner, constantly being watched by my Mom.

"I feel the same." I answered with a kiss on her head, hugging her, and I could smell the sweetness of her body. Haaaah, but Mom was right; doing it now could be dangerous for the developing embryo.

"What did she mean by the name of Vasa?" She asked, trying not to think about that we, once again, wouldn't sleep together tonight. Instead, we returned to discussing Mikan and her situation, the prime subject of today's dinner.

"Dunno." I answered before Luna could chime in.

"It is an old legend! Something that the nobles use to scare the kids in the capital, saying if they are bad, then their hair will turn red, and their eyes will be that of a cat's! They will transform into ugly monsters that will consume them and die a horrible death!"

"How nice." I grunted, looking at my Mom, then Sasha, and then at my reflection in my empty plate. "Now I get why the Empress told me that I was hideous."

"Hmph!" Snorted all the women present at the table, making me feel giddy inside. I will never get used to it, and I am glad... because this feels awesome!

"So, are these Vasa some mythical, evil creatures? Demons?" I asked, clearing my throat.

"Mmm... Not exactly." Luna murmured, scratching her head, "From what I remember, they were a different empire here? One that was defeated by the first Ishillian? Something like that. I remember hearing that they were something bad, like they were eating the firstborn sons of theirs and... things."

"Pft! Okay, sure!" I couldn't help but laugh at it as it was a typical smear campaign against those who lost a war. I wasn't shocked, as it meant that the Ishillian line had defeated and eradicated the empire predating them. Well, not that it matters; it was 2,000 years ago, and there should be no living survivors anyway. "It just sucks that because of that, people like us would be looked weirdly upon... eh..."

"Only in the core regions." Mom added calmly, wiping her mouth, "The farther you are from the capital, the less their customs affect you. There were multiple red-haired women and men in my family, dear, and out here, it means nothing.

"I wonder how our child will look!" Sasha exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing her still unchanged belly with a happy smile that told me that even if she felt frustrated, she still willingly followed my mother's draconic laws.

"Well, most likely, he or she will have red hair." I grinned, tickling her, "Of course, there is a chance to be born with beautiful blonde locks. As for eyes? Green? Blue? A mix? Orange? Who knows! We will see in 9 months!"

We were about to continue when hurried knocks interrupted us, and when Luna opened the door, Oleg stood there, holding an open letter, bringing it to me with long strides, looking like he was skipping.

"My Lord, I am already gathering the troops!"

"What the hell happened?" I asked, standing up with a severe look, snatching it away from his hands.

Just one glance told me that it was from Yuri, as I would recognize her handwriting anywhere. When I began reading the English words on it, my face became darker and darker. In the previous three years, I taught my most trusted officers my old ABC and some important words that would be enough to use as a secret language, encrypting the most critical messages. The statement in this one was simple, short, and made my stomach contract.

"War. Invasion. Chaos. Trapped. No Escape. Mission: Failure." What I was most worried about was the 'No Escape' part... That... made the hair stand on my back. "When did it arrive?"

"Five minutes ago." He answered, taking a look at his pocket watch, "We will be ready by the morning."

"Didn't you design them to be-" My Mom asked, but when I looked at her, she stopped and simply nodded. "That is the look of your Father. Good... do what you feel is right." With that, she stood up, walking next to Sasha, who had already taken away the letter and read it through multiple times.

"You will save her... right?" She sniffed, her eyes getting watery, something that I think not even Yuri would believe.

"Of course." I nodded, rubbing her head, "She is my wife, isn't she? Go, rest for now. Oleg!"

"Yes, My Sovereign!"

"Let's go; we need to gather more information! Send out our fastest birds to Elliot and ask if he knows something or not! Send one to the spies we have in the nearest city to the East! We need to know what is going on..."