Steel and Mana

Chapter 32 – Unexpected Trouble

For the next few days, I was holed up in my library, using my newest, shiniest giant tables filled with drawings of the magical circle that appeared under us. My goal was to gain some understanding of Merlin's ability as it was clearly some strengthening type... He was a natural support character. Previously, he made the formations at the mine work better now, with his mana being focused, which forced Sasha to release her own spell without any chance of saying no. Looking at the hundreds of new runes inside of it, I finally got an even clearer picture while replaying in my mind what really happened.

"You should rest a little!"

It was Sasha who arrived, gently rubbing my back, but I was too excited even to register her words.

"This is awesome!" I began blabbering like a little child, "Looking back at it, Merlin's magic is acting like an amplifier! The moment it activated, it sensed your presence, and look at this!" After a bit of rummaging through the dozens of big papers filled with my drawings, I found the one where I circled a dozen or so runes. "Look! This is precisely your formation!"

"Mine? You mean... the one I left behind on the ground once?"

"Exactly! Merlin's own rotated and threw out the unnecessary runes right until the point they matched yours! It automatically synced up with yours! Do you know what this means?! It means Merlin's magic formation has all the runes! I have all the building blocks of magic! Right here, right on this table!"

"Are you sure?" She asked, feeling it hard to believe.

"No, but I am pretty confident! The fact that it mimicked yours and amplified your strength means that Merlin can use his inborn gift to boost any other mage's output! He is like a little dynamo!"

"What's that?"

"A little mechanic thing that converts- eh, doesn't matter! What I'm saying is that if your spell has a strength of ten, with Merlin's help, it will have the strength of a hundred! He is invaluable!"

"Is he..." She murmured, sounding dejected, smiling in a somewhat sad and jealous way.

"Don't be like this~!" I giggled, hugging her waist, "You are just as invaluable to me!" I whispered, kissing her cheek, "I will still need to study these runes a lot as I can't really reference them, and putting them together willy-nilly could cause problems. I don't want to blow us up!"

"Yeah, me neither!"

"Anyway, it explains why he is good at learning and teaching; his natural disposition is to help others get better! I think the moment he becomes a teenager, I am going to make him my Prime Minister! It is best to delegate tasks so everyone can focus on the things they are the best at! He is already teaching a lot of the others; he will help me select the perfect person for the posts I need!"

"And... what will I do?"

"You will be my Empress, of course! So you will help with my personal projects~!" This immediately drew a happy and satisfied smile onto her face, and I was about to kiss her when a knock disturbed my thoughts, and Oleg entered, saluting at us.

"I have a report to make, My Lord!"

"Yes?"

"It's from the Hyenas."

"...?" Sasha looked at me questioningly, and I just chuckled, telling her I gave that nickname to the gang of Yuri. I felt it to be reasonable.

"What happened now?"

"They had their second raid... and they found..."

"Don't tell me it is another stash of CC?!" I shouted, my heartbeat increasing. I can't have this land to be a secret source of their crystals, or I would be fucked! If I disturb the flow of their rare resource... they will come in force to establish order, and that is the end of my dreams!

"N-no!" Oleg answered, surprised by my fearful voice.

"Phew! Hallelujah! That would have been catastrophic!"

"Why?" Sasha asked, but before I could continue, Oleg interrupted me hastily.

"My Lord, they found evidence of collusion between the Church and minor nobles! They are mining CC and selling them to other regions under the table!"

"What... the... fuck?"

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

"What a nice place I will live in! Cool!"

"You won't be living here!" Sasha said coldly, watching Yuribasida looking around my half-completed throne room.

"I think the white and gold is coming along nicely! A bit of red would make it pop!"

I only slightly looked up from my chair in the middle of the raised platform, watching her spin over and over again, taking in the room's appearance. I was somewhat satisfied as this place would be where the future of my own little Empire would be decided. Right now, only my throne was prepared, and the space before it was still empty. Still, soon enough, there will be a long table where my future ministers can sit down, have their debates, and present their conclusions to me afterward.

"It's not real gold," I spoke up, interrupting them, my eyes returning to the stacks of papers in my hand. "it's just paint."

"Really now?" Yuri hummed, walking closer to one of the golden pillars, touching and knocking it and feeling that it was made out of wood and painted to look like solid gold. "Is this made with magic? It is so real!"

"You can think of it like that!" I shrugged, not wanting to explain it to her... that was when Sasha chortled, looking down at her.

"It is made out of beasts! It's pretty easy if you have a little basic knowledge! But that would be too much for you..."

"Enlighten me then, my Queen~!" Yuri grinned, turning towards her, and before Sasha could react, she slapped her butt, "We will be having threesomes a lot, so don't be shy! Educate me, and I will educate you on how to please a woman!"

"Y-y-y-you!"

"Enough!" I snorted, but deep inside, my mind was already picturing some really wild images... damn it, brain, get a hold of yourself! "I found out when young that the beasts from the mountains' other side are strange. Some of their livers produce paint-like fluid in this gold color when they are being disemboweled. It is odorless, which is weird... anyway. I painted my throneroom with animal guts. Happy now?"

"That's badass, my dear! You are making me wet again!" Yuri grinned, letting Sasha go, walking before my throne, and looking up towards me with a grin. Once again, she was barely wearing anything, letting her scarred and somewhat mutilated body be on display... Brain, stop! Don't be horny! Enough!

"Whore." Sasha spat, walking past her and sitting on the armrest of my chair, gently caressing my hair, providing a very seductive image, clearly provoking Yuri. My dear wife... this does not help my horny brain right now, and I need to focus on the new pieces of information!

This thing was troublesome. Extremely... troublesome. It seemed that the previous village's governor, who was offed by Yuri's gang, had been secretly working with the Church for the past two years without notifying anyone else. They found a vein in the mountains, and they have been slowly chipping at it, gathering CC up and slowly selling them away. Their stash was as full as we found it because it took a lot of work to find a buyer, and they had to be careful. Very careful. If I didn't deal with this carefully... this could be bad.

"Soooo? Any rewards? Some extra? You can knock me up; I will give you an heir!"

"I will pass." I answered before Sasha could, "You brought me trouble, not joy, with this discovery!" I groaned heavily.

"I'm up for a spanking too! I am hungry for some quality fun time besides gutting some poor fucker!" She grinned, and I could swear her eyes were glittering with delight.

"I will reward you if you go and work with Oleg and begin openly arresting the remaining nobles," I said in a firm voice, putting the papers down and looking directly at her. "Only kill those who resist! Their heads need to be intact because I will need them for later!"

"Roger! That is why you called us here?"

"Yeah. Oleg is waiting for you; follow his orders! Can you do that or not?"

"Woof!"

"..."

I was watching her wiggle her butt towards me while leaving, and I couldn't help but shake my head, trying to throw out the evil and perverted thoughts.

"I can do it better..." Sasha murmured, which finally made me chuckle.

"For sure~! Haaah... this news really took a dump on my dinner table!"

"What will we do now?" She asked, feeling nervous as she didn't want to be discovered by the Empire.

"I already had a talk with my parents. Father has mobilized our army and is closing down the border crossings. We will conduct a raid on all the nobles and arrest them one by one!"

"That will..."

"It's not the end." I continued, raising a hand to halt her thoughts. "I determined to be proactive. I planned to sacrifice Yuri and her gang, but... now I am thinking otherwise. They are proving to be useful, so I will retrain them to be my knife in the dark."

"I don't know if they can be trained..."

"I will just need to keep Yuri in check, and she will deal with her goons. Working with Oleg is the first test. If they fail, I instructed him to kill them all. But I need a group for my dirty work! One that I can deny any connection to if they are caught. Anyway... back to the problem at hand! We will capture the priests, too, and bring everyone to the capital! Of course, those who are in the know of why, their head figures... well! Only their heads will come with us!"

"So that the Empire doesn't come and do it themselves? Are you going to use this against your Uncle, too?"

"You do learn quick!" I grinned, giving her a kiss, making her smile happily, "Yep! They wouldn't believe it could have been done without a proper noble's help! Mother is already on her way to visit Elliot in secret. They will plant evidence in my pig of an uncle's treasury and also into those noble's ledgers who are firm supporters of him! Then we will let the Empire clean house and reward us for being good puppies!"

"If they believe our story..."

"I will be persuasive!" I laughed, but yes, that was an unknown factor, waiting to be seen.

"And you will need to hide the fact that there is a mine here."

"Yes. That is why the top figures will be made sure to be dead, and only their heads will come with us." I nodded heavily, "We will make it so that my Uncle is the mastermind, sourcing CC and making a big profit for himself. This also means when we go to the capital city, we are bringing along ALL the CC we have. We need to show our loyalty to the Empire. This is a risky move, but... I think pulling it off will ensure that they don't bother us in the foreseeable future!"

"Why not just work with the church?"

"Sasha, my dear, I never expected you to ask something like this!" I grinned, knowing she hated them.

"I am not unreasonable!" She pouted cutely, making me tickle her and pull her into my lap.

"I won't work with them because that would make me an accomplice, and if things go down, I would be easily blackmailed! No. I will pretend to be the most loyal subject and make sure this backwater region remains out of the focus of the big and scary Empire! At least, until we can defend ourselves!"

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