Steel and Mana

Chapter 208 – Hunting the Hunter

Inside Lothlia, the main city of Elliot, life was much better than a decade ago. It was not only thanks to the new laws and edicts coming from their still young baron but because of the people themselves. New opportunities came with the mandate that forced them to learn to read and write, allowing everyone to have a better future. Those who capitalized on it now enjoyed a more promising life and wouldn't go hungry or cold when winter arrived.

It was what surprised Clara the most. She has been living amongst them since winter began, first staying at one of the inns, masquerading as a merchant. People looked at her suspiciously for the first few weeks, but she kept up her tale, and soon enough, her caravans caught up with her, arriving from Westland. It wasn't hard to fake her story, not with her background and reach. Soon enough, she was already acquainted with local merchants, working her way up and making new connections until finally reaching someone who counted as a wealthy individual, someone who was a 'noble' in anything but title. Since then, she began meeting with other wealthy locals and finally could gather more hearsay about the Frontier... about this city called Avalon.

What made her work more confusing was that, seemingly, Baron Elliot had abolished most of the lower noble ranks, be it castellans, manor lords, vavassors, or knights. All of them became known coequally as Esquires of Goldengroove. As for what this Goldengroove was, she quickly realized that it was what the baron began calling his land, naming it after how it looked in the autumn before harvest. Rulers are usually allowed to give fancy names to their territory, but to use it as an official moniker and even make changes to how the Imperial Code and Law works? That was high treason already.

Still, with her rare exotics arriving from beyond Ishillian borders, she was becoming famous, even allowing her to rent a shop where she could showcase her goods and sell them. Whenever a new shipment arrived, she always got her new orders hidden within from her lord, Otto, acknowledging her previous reports and pushing her to work herself into the Frontier.

"The Empress..." She mumbled, reading the news that Mirian Ishillia was only a few hundred kilometers away and that seemingly beasts were trying to break through the mountains. Yet, the people of Lothlia didn't even notice it at all, living their mundane lives instead of panicking. "This place stinks."

Although there was enough evidence to understand that this whole area was the playing field of the Empress and ready to rebel at any time, she needed to know more. She had to have concrete details. All the hidden facts, like what were those tall poles with cables hanging from them, connected to the city's castle? She tried following it, but they led out of the city into the far distance, and nobody would answer her offhand questions. No... they couldn't answer them. Then, what was that machine they saw? Running on smoke or something, being loud and noisy, yet strangely mesmerizing. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't magical. She knew... because she didn't feel any resonance with it.

After getting to know more people with higher-ranking statuses and making small talk with them, she soon learned that it was something named a tractor. It was a machine owned by Baron Elliot and was given to the workers to use in the fields. Besides helping them produce more in a year, at least doubling their food output, when snowfall came, they were also used to keep the roads leading in and out of Goldengroove clean and freely traversable. There were even rumors that some kind of bigger, better machine was going to be built next year, letting them travel back and forth between Lothlia and Avalon in a few hours... which sounded farfetched at best.

But she couldn't shake off the feeling it wasn't an exaggeration. For that, she was already trying ahead of time to contact official channels and sources, offering her services to either bring the materials needed or provide a cheap workforce for whatever construction they may have in the future. To her surprise, the last one was flat-out refused, saying that it would be the local guilds' responsibility and that they wouldn't take opportunities away from the citizens. As for the raw materials, they would come from the Silver Region, which made her send out more agents to try and infiltrate the Zimmermann family's businesses and the Black Lands.

"This won't be easy..." Clara mumbled, standing on the second floor of his rented home, looking out towards the street and the snowy roofs of the buildings obscuring her view. "Why is everyone so uninterested in the imperial coins?" She asked herself a question she thought of many times, feeling baffled by it.

All her bribes, aimed at the local 'nobles,' have fallen on deaf ears. Were they really this loyal? The only people she could pay to loosen their lips knew nothing and were simple, local citizens. What was even stranger was that she couldn't find rats and gangs within the city. It was as if they had evaporated. When she asked about it, she learned that there was a big cleanup done by Elliot when their army was established... since then, anybody known to affiliate with any type of criminal activity soon found themselves without a head.

"Army... This is my second time hearing about it... but where is this new army?" She questioned herself because she saw no trace of it. "I will have to use alternate methods." She shrugged, walking to her desk, pulling out a small coffer with about a dozen locks hanging from its sides.

Drumming on the plain, leather-covered top, she considered whether it was worth it or not... Even though she was a witch, she was only good enough to cast basic spells, so she had to be careful what type of magic she used. Refilling her stash of prepared talismans with drawn-up formations would take time if she ran out of them.

"Let's see if, after winter, I will have more on my hands. If I can't get in contact with people from the Frontier, I will have to try and see if I can put others under a spell. Still... it seems a waste to use them on a lowly baron and his plebian trash..."

What she didn't know was that on the opposite side of the street, a group of women was sitting in a room, observing her every move. One of them held a strange little device that immediately began beeping when Clara pulled that coffer out of under her bed.

"The detector says the girl is carrying at least fist-sized CCs with her. It is for sure in that house!"

"That is already dangerous. Number Four, go and notify Baron Elliot, who can relay this news home. We will keep track of both the hazardous cargo and the woman until further instructions."

"Number One," the one handling the CC detector asked, "we should just kill her and take the goodies back home."

"I agree, Number Two." The leading girl answered with a smile, as all of them were subordinates of Yuri, "But we aren't bandits anymore~! I think they will want her to be captured alive anyway. She has to know things that would be worth more than her magic stones."

"She is a witch." The one listening to the callsign Number Three chimed in, sitting on the windowsill, counting and memorizing the people coming and going from their target's home. "Her aura is similar to that of Lady Sasha and Lady Mikan. If we are ordered to capture her, we will have to be fast. We must not give her time to utter a spell or evoke a formation."

"True." The others nodded thoughtfully, making their leader think, "Maybe we can ask for anti-magic tools? I heard it worked wonders against the monsters..."

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I was back in the castle, reading my daily reports, and this one was coming directly from Lothlia.

"A witch..." I whispered, making Oleg flinch because he was the one who delivered the newest transmissions, which Merlin marked as top secret. "We are going send over anti-magic equipment. Also, make sure our guards at the border have a soldier with them at every company equipped with a hijacking spell and capable of disabling a potential enemy formation."

"Yes, Sovereign. Should we send soldiers to Lothlia? The Pass seems to become peaceful once again; we didn't have monsters come over for two weeks straight."

"Relaxing means giving the enemy a chance to break through. We will maintain our current alertness until the snow melts! Also, let our target think she is still safe. Yuri's girls are doing a good job keeping an eye on her, and with Elliot's help, we can craft a controlled environment."

"Are we going to let them into Avalon?"

"We are." I smiled, tapping on my chair's armrest. "We will use the start of the railway construction as the reason for it. We can set up everything in advance and gather them in one place. I want to capture our witch and all of her assets! I need them to remain intact so we can learn about our enemies."

"It is a dangerous move. I advise you to kill them as soon as we can."

"Tempting, but then if they try a second time, they could be even more cautious, and we may not discover them with our current methods. I am willing to gamble a little. Plus... we have an ace up in our sleeve."

"The Empress."

"Um." I nodded, smiling at my General, "I will meet with her; let's see what she knows about it!"

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"A witch?" Mirian asked, furrowing her brows as we met up on the Judgement, "Do you have a description of her?"

"Of course."

I remained silent while she read the reports I brought over, including her description and a sketch of her face.

"Nora Winefield?"

"A fake name, most likely." I shrugged, "I don't expect spies to use their real names."

"There is a Winefield family living in the Westlands; they are indeed merchants."

"Huh... Color me impressed! You know it because...?"

"They are permitted to deal with our western neighbors, the Principality of Lacri. I have memorized every family who has a permit to leave the Empire. That part seems genuine."

"They have chosen their background perfectly, it seems."

"They did, but a witch... are you sure?" She asked, looking at me and watching me nod my head confidently. I expected her to ask how, but she didn't, knowing I would not reveal the trick behind it. "This is troubling. If Pascal indeed has magic-capable agents and he can use them as regular spies, he is more prepared and dangerous than I initially thought. I assumed he would have, at best, general-level people under him who could use spells, not footsoldiers! After returning, I must take counter-measures and look into this more."

"The positives are that we know about it and can prepare. This conflict won't break out just yet."

"True. I will deliver what we agreed upon... I will leave the moment winter ends."

"You won't visit Avalon then." I said teasingly, as she had been stuck to her ship and anchored above the castle since she arrived. "Last time, you also didn't have much time to explore because of your worry about your lover."

"Then invite me again!" She replied with a chuckle, shaking her head. "Or, I can come whenever... We are allies, aren't we?"

"True!" I nodded, watching her stand up and stretch, "Maybe I will build a dock for your ship. Sooner or later, I will need one anyway."

"You copied the design?" Mirian asked, but she didn't sound troubled. No... she was... expectant?

"Not entirely. It gave me an idea, and I have plans for a different version. It is not even close to how yours looks."

"Heh, you and your designs... who are you? The reincarnation of the Emperor of Magic?"

"Believe me when I say no!" I laughed loudly after hearing her joke because she didn't even realize how close she got to some truths that I didn't think she would believe.

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