Steel and Mana

Chapter 280 – Madam Lu

The sky was free of clouds, a welcomed change after the long winter. Since summer arrived, the air has been warm, chasing away every thought of the long hibernation Avalon has experienced. It was no wonder that most families were enjoying it as best as they could, filling the streets and visiting the bathhouse, taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

"Luna! Are you ready?" Sasha shouted, waiting with her children, Mikan and Yuri, who was holding Lancelot in her arms.

"Coming!" She yelled back, finally appearing from the palace, fixing her hair, tying it up into a ponytail. "I just made sure he has lunch to come back to."

"This is why a maid is the perfect wife." Yuri grinned, holding her son, who was curiously looking around, sucking on his thumb in the process.

"Nobody would argue with that." Mikan nodded, smiling at Luna, carrying a basket as the group was heading out of the city, deciding to go on a small picnic with the kids.

"Go, go!" Arthur pulled on his mother's arm, eager to have an adventure.

"Um, let's go!" Leyla agreed at once, holding onto the edges of Sasha's long skirt, beaming with the same excitement.

Of course, they wouldn't go alone. Even though Sasha and Mikan both were capable of casting spells, with the kids coming with them, they were forbidden from leaving the palace unguarded. Besides Yuri's own girls acting as their unseen bodyguards, a newly selected group of soldiers also accompanied them. The Avalonian Honor Guard. They were chosen from veterans of the battle against Otto's army, and their duty was to protect the Sovereign and his family at all costs at all times.

"Will Dad come next time?" Arthur asked, holding his mother's hand while they walked, or in his case, hopped from one leg to the other.

"He said he would take us to… um… waterslide!" Leyla answered, puffing her chest out after remembering the word.

"Waterslide?" Yuri asked, and Mikan answered her.

"A new entertainment built in the bathhouse. It was added to the outside pool, and kids love it. People can climb up high and slide down, and it looks fun."

"Fun!" The kids yelled in sync, prompting Lancelot to let go of his thumb and start clapping and giggling.

"I bet it is crowded like hell…" Luna muttered, looking around and watching the streets filled with people as they exited the palace's ground. Noticing them and their guards, Avalonians quickly parted ways, bowing respectfully and proudly, greeting them, and waving at the children who they knew, one day, would lead them.

"You are a room rat." Yuri joked, looking at Luna with one eye, "If you could, you wouldn't even go out of the palace. Not ever."

"Yep." She nodded proudly, raising her chin. "I have everything I want there! Why would I want to leave? Even back then, when I was a kid, the city was always crowded, noisy, and distracting. Now, Avalon feels even more busy than the capital ever felt like."

"But the people here are happy." Mikan added, waving back to them as they walked, turning their short little travel into an impromptu parade. "There are no beggars, no lost souls who know not what to do with their lives other than to take from others. Walking these streets, I can feel how full this city is. It is… vigorous and brimming with life, joyful and happy."

"You won't persuade her, Mikki. Not even Sacchy could. If she is not being railed–"

"Yuri!" Sasha quickly warned her before Arthur or Leyla learned something new again. It was already hard to teach them not to shout 'fuck’ and 'bitch’ from the top of their tiny lungs when play-fighting.

"What? Luna likes to play the role of a train. Even her sounds are the same when her body rhythmically goes along the track. Plop-plop!"

"Plop!" The kids clapped at once, eerily matching a certain rhythm, turning Mikan's face bright red while Yuri simply grinned.

"Not my fault…" Luna muttered, watching Sasha's darkened expression, scolding the two of them with her eyes.

"Choo-choo!" Arthur laughed, unaware of what his parents were thinking. For him, it was all about the sound the train was making when traveling. "Trains are cool! But big mech is cooler!"

"Much cooler!" Leyla agreed with her brother, "Yuri-mom, when will we ride in it?"

"Yeah! When?" Arthur asked, too, letting their mother's hands go and starting to hop around Yuri like two overenergized bunnies.

"When you are bigger!" Was Yuri's answer, something she told them many, many times. "You are still barely reaching up to my thighs, kiddos! Grow taller. Stronger. Then you can try it out."

"Hauh…" They moaned at once, stopping their hops and returning to Sasha with lowered heads, defeated by simple words.

"Learn from your siblings." Yuri whispered to Lancelot, "Be like them and not like Mom! Okay?" She asked, kissing his puffy cheeks. Lancelot, in answer, was looking at his mother with big, round blue eyes, trying to understand what he was being told. Unlike his siblings, it turned out that Kalash's features were dominant, as the boy, who was now more than a year old, had grown slightly curvy blond hair on the top of his head. "Mommy would have thrown a fit if she doesn't get what she wants… that is bad! Don't be bad like your Mom~!"

"What's that?" Luna asked, interrupting everyone's thoughts as she pointed toward the crowd, gathering around a shop not that far away.

"Oh." Mikan flinched, blinking her golden eyes, "I forgot… it is the day of the reprinting of the latest novel that is doing the rounds among the people. They have been waiting for it to be re-released since last night. We underestimated the numbers and printed too few volumes of the first edition."

"Another Merlin hit?" Luna shrugged, "How did I miss that? I should have had a copy first!"

"Huh?" Mikan tilted her head, looking at Luna weirdly, "What are you talking about? It is your book."

"Yeah, sure… what? What? Say it again? Wait... You aren't joking… WHAT?!" Luna almost fell over after hearing her, realizing Mikan was dead serious and honestly surprised she didn't know.

"Pft!"

"Yuri?!" She snapped her head towards the stifled chuckle. By now, everyone was looking at Yuri because not even Sasha was aware of what was happening.

"You told me–" Mikan started, her voice trembling, realizing what happened and that she unknowingly played a part in a 'ploy.'

"It was Leon's idea." Yuri exclaimed, throwing their husband under the bus at once. "He always told us that sex sells. Luna's erotic stories are unique, but she is too shy or lazy... or both to do anything with them. So, Leon edited and compiled the first into a proper book, and I sent them to Mikan so we could publish them." Hearing her speak, Luna's face turned whiter than snow, almost fainting, realizing she made a big mistake, letting him read it. Of course, he could remember it all…! She totally forgot about that.

"You did not…" Sasha muttered, just as pale as Luna. Of course, she was; Luna's stories were the exact copies of their own adventures between the bedsheets! "How could you approve it?!" She snapped at Mikan, who was blinking her eyes rapidly, feeling a bit dazed.

"The names were changed." Yuri giggled, enjoying the show while their kids were clearly uninterested in their parents' nonsense and instead were nagging one of the soldiers guarding them to let them ride on his tall, massive shoulders. Which he gladly obliged to, of course. "Relax, girls! Also, you too, Lucchy. All the names are different, and we made enough changes, so it is not apparent. See? Not even Mikki realized the similarities."

“I did not, but… now that you mention it… HAUUUUUH!" She blushed harder than ever before, remembering some parts that were clearly about her.

"The writer is simply named Madam Lu. Nobody knows who she is, but just look at them!" Yuri continued proudly as they passed by the crowd, waiting for the book, and to their surprise, it was mostly… women. "This book is the hottest romance and erotic novel on the market. Well, for now, the only of its kind, and it sells. Oh boy, it sells! You should be proud, Lucchy. Your pervy writing is a goldmine."

“Let’s… let’s just go… Picnic, yes? Yes… picnic…” She muttered, in complete shambles, pulling her hair into her face to hide, burning red from head to toe.

"You can be such a bastard sometimes…" Sasha grunted, recollecting herself, clearing her throat, not looking at Yuri.

"That is why you love me, my dear Sacchy~! You should read it."

"She–" Mikan blurted out, but the way Sasha's fingers twitched, she said nothing more. Still… it was too late, as Yuri had already read their wordless exchange, laughing like she had just heard the greatest joke ever.

Mikan didn't need to say more. That alone was enough for Yuri to know, Sasha had already read it, and by how she was acting, she must have loved it. Who wouldn't? They knew how to have fun in their bedroom, and nobody could deny that.

…
….
……

"Achoo!"

"Sovereign?" Merlin asked, looking at me while I wiped my nose.

"Someone is cursing me behind my back." I muttered in answer.

"Or the dust." He countered, fixing his lamplight while we stood in my underground facility, visiting to examine how our work was going. I left the palace early, before sunrise, and so far, what I have seen pleased me.

The outside was already walled, lookout towers were built, defensive cannons were installed, and a pair of railroads led into the compound. The arriving resources were then unloaded and transferred into the cavern, which now looked like a mix between a modern hangar and a factory. We were in the middle of installing electric lamps on the ceiling, connecting it to our operating coal plant so that we would have daylight in here, no matter when.

"The moment we are finished," Merlin continued, standing next to me, watching our workers test the forges, making them ready to produce the required metal for our first airship. "We can start construction. We can operate throughout the day and night. I have already approved the proposed shifts for the workers."

"Mhm. I am surprised by the work they managed to do in such a short time. We will be able to assemble it in secret, which is good. We can't be sure that no spies will journey to Avalon now that we have visitors from all over the North and are going to welcome foreign caravans. All our future military projects must be built here. Surprise is one of the strongest weapons, and I am not going to forfeit it."

"I agree, My Sovereign. Speaking of surprises… did you have any new ideas about my report?"

"Not much." I shrugged, remembering our long talk as he explained the Emperor of Magic's words to me. "All of that happened 2,000 years ago. That is a long enough time for everything to reset. We can't be sure what we found is connected to it 100%, even if it makes sense. I may understand his fears of playing with monster blood, but we are not creating hybrids or abominations. I don't know what happened back then, and I don't think he does either. His only sources were old records that his ancestors gathered and kept in their vaults."

"True." Merlin nodded in agreement, "He was also more than a thousand years apart from the time the Vasas were defeated. And you told me, Leon, the victors write history."

"Yeah, and the Ishillians won." I chuckled just when a buzzing sound spread around the hidden facility and the thousands of lights on the ceiling, row by row, came to life. "I don't know how it was back then, but this is the now. And we will focus on the present. We will use what we can and will forge our own way, my dear Prime Minister!"

"Yes, My Sovereign!" he saluted, and we joined in the celebration as thousands of workers began clapping and looking at the bright lights above us all.