Steel and Mana

Chapter 171 – Refugee Crisis

"I assume everyone is clear on our latest issue?" I asked, sitting on my throne, looking at my ministers, facing me from behind their wide table, nodding their heads. "Good. With what is happening right now, it is apparent that we need to make a critical decision that will affect Avalon's future. Minister Merlin, please."

"Yes, Sovereign!" He bowed, standing up, and with the help of Mikan and Luna, a giant board with a detailed map of the borders of my Uncle's territory was rolled into the room. Fresh markings of our soldiers, blockades, enemy crossings, and troop placements were pinned onto it, letting everyone see how the situation was unfolding. "I visited the border myself while I was at Baron Elliot's castle. The situation is critical, and our enemy, the Black Lands, is using Scorc civilians as fodder."

“…” Although the others' answers were silent, they did nod their head, showing that everyone read the reports we sent out and had no questions about who was who and why things were happening right now.

"We managed to repurpose an abandoned village as a temporary spot to keep them under guard. We deport the collected refugees and hold them in until we come to a decision on what to do. Still, incidents are happening every day. They even set fire to one of the houses and rioted all night… so far, we have around a dozen being injured daily while more and more die when they attack us to break out. We must end this before it gets out of hand."

"It is evident," Oleg commented, his arms crossed, barely fitting into one of the chairs sitting amongst my ministers. "Our enemy is waiting for the moment of utter chaos to march into our, I mean, into Baron Elliot's territory to uphold public order. They could easily decide to occupy it! That would be unacceptable for us."

"Naturally." I nodded, clarifying that we were not about to let that happen. "We have multiple options before us. I am at an impasse on which one we should go with, so I called for this meeting to hear and consider your input, my trusted Ministers! Go ahead, Merlin, please explain it to everyone."

"With pleasure!" He smiled, arms held behind his back, walking up and down before the map, speaking like someone who had ample experience in this. Well, he indeed had, leading Ishillia once. "Our first choice is to eliminate them." Merlin answered plainly. "Cross the border and die. We could display the corpses along the crossing points as a warning."

"Hooooleeeeey Shiiieeeeet." I laughed in my head because the way he was speaking was like a total psychopath. Even though it was a drastic and brutal method, it worked for Vlad… Anyway, the way Merlin presented it showed a bit of his 'Ishillian heritage' because there was no remorse in his voice at all.

"That would result in a great amount of backlash, of course." After everyone comprehended the first option's severity, he continued, his voice remaining even, never stumbling over his words, "But we could weather it. Nobody within Ishillia really cares about them, and by how things are, we are fairly certain they would be massacred sooner or later anyway."

"Besides it being an abhorrent suggestion, the psychological torture it would put on our soldiers is dangerous!" Mikan exclaimed, standing up behind the table, pleading towards not only my Ministers but me too, while using words she learned from me, "What it would entail would be like a slowly eating virus, weakening their minds and causing unforeseen issues later in their lives. We must be cautious before we decide on something like this!"

"Do we have a better option?" Paxon, my Minister of Industry, asked, looking at me rather than at Merlin.

"We can use the Lion." Merlin nodded, crossing his arms before his chest, "With it appearing before the refugees, their will to fight back would be instantly broken. Then, we can march them deeper into our territory, place them under heavy surveillance, and start manually integrating them from their quarantine. This doesn't carry the same certainty as the first option because they could still harbor feelings of rebellion and terrorism that could burst to the surface at any moment. Maybe twenty years from now on. Or forty. Who knows!"

"They were beaten and occupied." I chimed in from my throne, knowing those types of faces and eyes. I participated in wars where I met with people of occupied territories; there would be no peace, not until multiple generations had passed, and even that wasn't a guarantee. "None of you would be thrilled if Avalon is taken over by another, so just imagine that when you are thinking about their feelings. It is what it is; this situation is nasty and unpleasant, but we must deal with it."

"Then again, as a third option before us, we could screen them." Merlin added, "There must be people who are genuinely looking for a place to escape to. Somewhere to settle down, wanting nothing more but safety for their children. We could take in those kinds of people, provide for them, and naturally turn them to our side. It would be slow, and the same risks are there…"

"What would we do with those who don't pass the screening?" Zita, my Agricultural Minister, raised her hand, asking us.

"Depends on their reaction." Merlin replied plainly, "Those who are way too aggressive will be executed and displayed as a warning. Those who can be forced will be transferred back to the Black Lands. We will brand them, and second offenders will no longer be shown any mercy, killed on the spot if they are ever discovered on our territories."

"Let us vote!" I clapped after glancing at Sasha, who nodded back at me after seeing the room fall silent. "Don't forget, our priority is Avalon and our allies. That's it."

In the end, a decision was made, with the majority of my Ministers going with the third option. This means we would have to screen all the people we round up and decide who will be eligible to live within Elliot's territory. Of course, this brought with it multiple other implications. For example, I will have to make Elliot introduce the same kind of census we have here, giving every citizen their identification book, and so on. But that would be up to my ministers to organize, and I would foot its bill, being my idea. When the conference finally finished, I returned to my office with Sasha, waiting for Yuri to arrive, looking at us with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it?" She asked, knowing I wouldn't have called for her right after our session if it wasn't important.

"We need security." Sasha explained, bringing forth a sealed letter and pressing it into her hands. "You must deliver this to Elliot in person and without anyone seeing you."

"What is this about?" She asked, pocketing it, curious, glancing at me, waiting for my answer.

"Only five people, including you and Elliot, will know about this." I spoke, making her even more excited.

"Oh? Intriguing. Are we going to kill them after all?"

"No." I sighed, shaking my head, "But I had a long talk with Merlin and Sasha and decided we won't risk anything. We will build a camp where we screen the refugees. Those who are accepted will get a medical check-up. The same examination that our Dear Duke went through to save his life."

"Oh! Ohohoho! You are making me wet, ahahaha! Good. Good! I wanted to say that I don't like the idea of letting anyone in just because they said they won't cause trouble."

"Me neither." Sasha agreed, standing next to my chair. 

"The letter explains everything to Elliot. After he reads it, make sure he destroys it. This is confidential and will not be recorded anywhere. The sixth person who knows about it will be the camp's future supervisor, making sure that the established health inspection goes as planned and our new civilians get their mental health fixed before entering our lands. We must purge their hatred and turn their lives around so they can be happy."

"And obedient."

"Let's call it loyal." Sasha answered her.

"Fine by me!" She grinned, looking at me while licking her lips, "I'll go and make sure Elliot sees the point. I think that it would also ease his mind because we are asking him to deal with a bunch of hate-filled people invading his land."

"I already told him via our new Morse Code machine that you will visit him; he just doesn't know it will be a surprise visit."

"Don't worry, I won't scare him to death! Oh well, I'm off then; I want to be back soon." She hopped forward, leaning in and kissing my lips before she did the same with Sasha.

"Heey!" She moaned as Yuri squeezed her butt while doing so.

"For the trip~ See ya!"

"She became a menace…" Sasha mumbled after she left, fixing her clothes while licking her lips, "Hopefully, she won't cause trouble while away!"

"Doubt it." I chuckled, "I think our Yuri has fully grown up."

"Without the use of any magic spells… Well. Almost."

"Hm? What spell?" I asked, looking up at her because I honestly couldn't tell. Was she speaking about how Mikan fixed her up?

"Your wand." She whispered, sitting on my lap, her breath tickling my ears. "That's what I'm talking about…"

…

….

……

"Something is not right… I can't get my finger on it, Father, but something is wrong."

"I also noticed it." Vash Tobrok nodded, standing at the tallest point of their castle, overlooking their capital city, unbeknown to them, looking towards the direction of Avalon.

"All the refugees we send in… disappear. Some were thrown back, branded on the back of their hands with a strange symbol, and we even witnessed public executions at our crossing points, detailing all their sins before hanging them. It was something I did count on, but the fact that thousands disappear? No news of riots or troubles with bandits, and their soldiers keep numbering the same amount... This doesn't make sense."

"They may take away the refugees and kill them off somewhere where our eyes and ears can't reach."

"Then why the public, forthright executions?" Levy asked, unable to find the logic behind it.

"Scare tactics. Isn't it working? The number of refugees we were able to push through has been constantly dwindling in the past few weeks!"

"Whatever the reason, it is just another option for us to be concerned about. Still... I think we can march into their territory because of it. If we frame it in a certain way, looking to discover the truth and make sure civilians are not butchered by the barbarians, we can become recognized by the people."

"Recognized by them? Who cares?" Vash snorted, making his son quickly explain his point.

"Yes, but at least we could make it so they don't ravage our land if they see us as a bit more… sensible!"

"Whatever. I exchanged letters with the Seedbed's baron, and they checked their borders. The same thing is happening there but on a much smaller scale. The Gateway's ruler has yet to respond to my messages, the lazy bastard."

"What about Earl Zimmermann?"

"We are still waiting for an answer from them. It is not rare for it to take so long; we are not the main concern of an Earl who is looking to get into the capital city of our beautiful Empire!"

What neither of them knew was that at that moment, Matilda Zimmerman was too anxious to even drink her favorite liquor, being sober against her will, sitting behind a massive table reading two letters from two different dukes.

"Fuck. Fuuuuuck." She moaned, feeling that she was turning cross-eyed, looking at the handwriting and the 'orders' she received.

One was from Duke Jauwn, an old family who lived within the capital and was directly above her family for the past two centuries. It was a clear mandate that if any other family contacted her, she shouldn't listen to them because, with the new Empress on the throne and half of the dukes being replaced, ploys and backstabbings were running rampant among the nobles to solidify their powers. Under him, she was safe… or so she thought.

Because the second letter came from Duke Kustov, which was half an invitation to talk and half a decree to listen. His son was about to come and visit her, delivering an important message… As for what about? She had a guess. The reports coming from up north, from the Black Lands, were beginning to trouble her because the Frontier was directly under Duke Kustov's rule when she finally looked into it.

"Why me…? I just wanted to be a girl bathing in milk and rose petals… Why do I need to be put through all of this?" She moaned, crying without tears, "Where's my little love? Where's my bottle?! Mommy needs a drink…"

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