Steel and Mana

Chapter 105 – Letter

It has been two days since Elena had a long discussion with her father. Right now, she was sitting in her luxurious carriage, heading towards the north on a journey that would take more than a month to arrive if they kept at their current, leisurely pace. Besides her, only three of her personal maids were in the carriage with her, looking after her wellbeing since she was young. At the same time, her caravan was surrounded by five hundred well-armed soldiers from her family, protecting her along the way against any dangers. Looking out of the carriage's window, watching the blue sky, she couldn't help but sigh over and over again, making her maids think she was still struggling with the fact she was 'exiled.' At least, they felt it that way, unlike Elena.

"Something is not right..." She reasoned in her mind, remembering what she and her father discussed.

This was not an exile, nor was it a punishment. The way he spoke and laid out everything was as if it were some kind of mission. But he refused to elaborate on it further, always returning to the same monologue. She now has a paramount responsibility in Grayback. Whatever he was hiding was severe and dangerous, probably connected to the fact that their family wasn't destroyed like many others. When she heard from him how they lost the Justice and an Imperial Mage, she didn't want to believe it... but it had to be true. Otherwise, her father wouldn't have come back crippled, and her Uncle and multiple cousins wouldn't have disappeared. Was the war not going well? They were not hearing much about it in the Capital, not that she paid attention to it either.

Thinking about it, her fingers wandered toward her white leather handbag, which was sitting next to her, where two sealed letters were hiding inside. Kustov made her swear she would not open the one with his personal seal and that she wouldn't tell anyone about it. She had to keep it at her side at all times. When she asked why or what it was about, he only said that there would be someone coming for it from the Frontier, claiming to be from a place called Avalon. She had to hand it over to them when it happened, but until then, nobody else could know about it. To learn the rest, she can open the other one, but only after she arrives and takes over Greyback, the city she would call home from now on. 

"What is going on...? Is the Empire in danger?" She asked herself multiple times, but that seemed unlikely.

She knew that many nobles were made to gather their armies to march and that multiple mercenary groups were already at the frontlines, looking to earn gold and maybe even ranks of nobility, but this was nothing new. She learned about their history; wars were part of the Ishillian culture. This was what made them the strongest force in the world. They were here 2,000 years ago and will be here forever.

"That's a fact..."

Or is it? She couldn't help but wonder. Feeling that black clouds were gathering above the Ishillian Empire, she began reconsidering everything she believed in after talking with her father. Was everything really that golden and shiny? The more she looked, the more she felt that an illusion was breaking around her, as if her eyes were beginning to see through a fog that she didn't know existed. There were her friends, for example. When she was sent away with her brother and mother, they all renounced them, immediately praising her cousins and Uncle instead... then when she returned, they welcomed her back as if nothing had happened. Although she acted along, going out with them the same way as before, deep down, she knew it was nothing but a facade to keep up the connections with the nobles her bloodline was friendly with. It was no longer the friendship she thought she had nurtured since childhood.

Then, there was her possible future spouse from one of the men they sometimes hung out with; whorechasing braggarts, all of them. Even her brother was found a few times in a brothel, drunk, accompanied by other noble scions of the worst ilk. She never really blamed Milan for it, but she also tried warning him against it and influencing him not to fall for the superficial 'brotherhood' they were singing about when being as drunk as a barbarian of the Frontier.

"The Frontier..." she murmured, letting out another long sigh, making her maids look away, not knowing how to console her.

She only heard about it. The Empire's northmost end is a region behind everything and is still a thousand years away from its past glory. Land for the animals and barbarians of the Empire, there for a simple use: defend the pass to the Beastland. It is stuck in time, in the ancient days when civilization was still primitive. They were nothing but a glorified bandaid over a scar. She couldn't lie; the fact that she was going to call that place a home troubled her. Gone was the Empire's glory, its luxurious inventions, beautiful clothes, exciting plays and shows, everything that made living in Ishillia's Jewel the dream of everyone else in the Empire.

She wasn't looking forward to moving into a place that was like traveling back thousands of years in time... She was not happy to do it, but she understood the reasoning behind it. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't questioning it. Was there really one option left before her father? To send her away instead of marrying her into another duke's family? She knew that CC was something that was worth more than gold or the life of any citizen, but this was still... weird. She wanted to read the letter her father gave her, but if he said only to do it after arriving, she wouldn't go against his wishes. It was not the time to be headstrong but to trust her father.

"Haaaah... Am I now considered to be part of the barbarians or not?" She asked softly, spurring her maids to finally open their mouths and try to comfort her, telling her that everything would be back to normal, if not immediately, then after a few years for sure.

...

....

......

"How's it hanging my stud?" I didn't need to look up from my papers to know; it was Yuri who appeared in my study, where I was reading through my ministers' monthly reports. 

"It's fine, it's fine, you are out of your biting phase. What is it?"

"What? I can't come and molest you just because I want to?" She asked, moaning, looking hurt, making me glance up at her, seeing a letter between her fingers.

"I know you well. You wouldn't come to my office if it was not about something because you would be afraid I would give you a task to do. You are just as lazy as Luna."

"The girl knows how to live! Nowadays, however, Sacchy is dragging her everywhere. Are they out again? When I woke up, everyone was gone."

"Yep. They went to see Mikan because she visited me with a peculiar request. I asked them to talk with her and check how she was doing. Maybe she could open up to them, as they are closer as friends."

"Oh... What... What did she want?"

"Hm?" I hummed, raising my head entirely after noticing the sudden change in her voice. Maybe she was worried? "Well, she came to me to ask if it would be possible for her to take control over her ancestor. We talked about it once, but now it seems that she made a decision. She wants to do it, so she asked me to look into it with Merlin. I told her that it may take time, and I couldn't guarantee anything as the idea was merely hypothetical, but we will see."

"That is why you sent Sasha there?"

"Yep. I want to see if she is truly okay. Mikan may be more straight with her than with me. If she is doing it not out of desperation or something weird but determined, then I am obliged to try and help her. She is part of Avalon. We don't say no when someone from us asks for help."

"She said something similar..." Yuri answered with a whisper, making me raise my eyebrows. "Anyway, I will go and speak with her too. I have been visiting her for the past weeks."

"I heard that. Are you trying to woo her?"

"That would be awesome!" She laughed, licking her lips, "I would watch how you thrust into her... aw, I bet her moans are hot as fuck!"

"..." Damn you, Yuri, stop stoking the fire within my mind; I can barely keep up with you three sometimes... It is not that easy to satisfy a harem! Sasha is fine; she is the most normal, but Luna only enjoys it when it's rough. Lastly, here you are, with the largest pool of stamina of the three, and doing it with you is like running a marathon. At least when I am doing it slowly, you give up sooner, hehe. Shit, I am getting distracted... "So, what is it?" I asked again, looking at the letter in her hand, deciding to nudge the conversation back to its starting point. 

"Ah, yes. This is a letter from your secret lover. I didn't know you were into older men."

"Fuck you." I grunted, taking it away, noticing the weird, crow-shaped seal on it. It was already open, which I was not bothered with. Yuri here was responsible for anything related to our spies, and she had the authority to read through every piece of information that was coming in, whether through the official channels or not. It had to be important if she deemed I was to read the source.

"I would, believe me!" She answered with a laugh, sitting up on my desk, "You should make some fun toys for us; I saw some in the hands of nobles. I could use it to discipline Luna when she is being lazy. What do you say?"

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." I replied, not really listening to her.

"Really?! Promise?!"

"Yes."

"Cool! I'll come back for it later; good reading!" She giggled, leaning in and stealing a forced kiss before getting out, but my mind was locked in on the letter in my hands.

It was my first message from Kustov, sent through the Empire's official channels. How interesting! Opening it up, it was addressed to me as a Duke would address someone at my position of Viscount.

"To the Viscount of the Frontier.

I am Duke Garbank Kustov of House Kustov, bestowed with power by Her Majesty's indomitable rule. This letter finds you because in your immediate neighborhood, at a place called Greyback, my daughter will take up regency and will probably be in contact with your land. In those faraway regions, the customs are different, and my daughter must have someone she can rely on. 

Help her acclimate to the ways of the north, and the family of Duke Kustov will not forget it."

And that was it. Short and concise, but I knew better, smiling from ear to ear. "Grayback, huh?" I whispered, looking for a map, and it didn't take long to find it. "Huh... weird."

It was weird, indeed. It was adjacent to the long, natural mountain range to the west of me. Although my borders were hugged by my Uncle's territory, looking like a crescent moon, right at his borders, I found this region called the 'Fragmented Holds.' My map was fairly outdated because all those tiny, pebble-like counties were marked with different crests of royal families, but there it was, Greyback.

So he sent his daughter here as a regent after they got to rule over it. Interesting. The message within the letter was simple: He was sending her here to be a connection between us. As to what type of connection is to be seen, but I couldn't help but chuckle.

Perhaps I will bring Merlin along when we meet. The little guy always says there are no girls around who are interested in him, which is a lie. I know that for sure... It is the other way around! He turned down multiple confessions already. Maybe someone from the Capital will catch his eyes, ahaha!

"Wait..." I snapped my head up to where Yuri was sitting, but she was already gone. "Did I just promise her that I would design some vibrators?"