Steel and Mana

Chapter 82 – A Demon’s Gift

I was watching from the walls as the soldiers rode out on horseback, approaching the corpse of that giant beast in a wedge formation. Was I anxious? Yes. It would be a lie to say otherwise.

"I wanted to go..." Merlin grumbled, standing on a box beside me, but I refused to let him head out with my father. He was ready to go wherever I told him to when he arrived with the reinforcement, bringing extra clothes to cover every part of the soldiers. After coming to the walls and seeing the dead beast, he was like a hamster on coffee, squealing incoherently.

"Only when everything is confirmed to be safe and no sooner! You tremble like an overexcited chihuahua; calm down! It won't go anywhere. I hope."

"I don't know what that is, My Lord, but of course I am excited! Look at that monster! How cool is that?!"

"It was terrifying..."

"Ah... Y-yes..." He stopped, lowering his head, saying nothing more, beginning to rummage in his inner pockets. "Good thing we completed these..." He mumbled, trying to dial back on his excitement as he pulled out the first rudimentary telescopes we built, watching as the soldiers approached the dead beast through it.

"I agree." With a nod, I also followed suit, anxiously watching my father. The plans for it were not made by me this time, but they were brought back by one of our traders who visited other regions within the Empire. The first year was rough, as we were looked down upon in most places, and nobody wanted to do business with us. But by the second year, we had finally managed to establish some proper contacts, not with nobles but with wealthy but rankless families.

It was better than I thought because we could get our hands on some rarer resources and a few blueprints without too much hassle. Of course, they were nothing that counted as cutting-edge, only simple, old technology that the Empire had already discarded and was using something else at a higher level. One such item was the telescopes in our hands, as I learned that the Empire's military had an even better version by now.

"I wish we had a radio..." I murmured, and Merlin immediately caught my words.

"What's that?"

"An instrument that would let us talk via long distances. Do you remember the warning devices the merchants had on them?"

"Um. We are also using it in the mines."

"We do?" I looked at him, surprised.

"I didn't bother you with the details because it was a minor thing, but you signed it, My Lord!" He added with a chuckle, and as I thought back... I stamped a request two years ago to establish an emergency response system. Huh. "I made it so they can inform us as soon as possible if a collapse happens or something similar, anything that requires an emergency response. The idea came to me after the destruction of the first temple!"

"This is why you are my right hand..." I added with a smile, rubbing his head like always. "The radio, to answer your previous question, is similar. People who have it on them can communicate over long distances. You speak into it, and on the other end, they hear what you say without delay and can answer back."

"That would be so useful! It would... it would be better than the newspaper! Instant news! Knowing everything when it happens!"
"Yeah, but building something like that... even with the amount of knowledge we have is so far away, it hurts my head. I still only managed to print out around half of the books I flipped through in the Empress's private library; I can't focus on it at all times and comb through that knowledge, or I would go mad from it!"

"Worry not, I read every book and memorize them all!" He giggled, grinning, and I wasn't doubting him. The little hamster had a better brain than me. Even though I could photograph and recall information quickly, understanding all of that was a different question altogether. He? This little bastard could learn it way faster than me! Sometimes, I felt jealous... but only for a little.

While we talked, my father did reach the corpse, and we watched as they surrounded it. After making sure it was dead, they began climbing up on its body, testing the hardness of its shell. Watching them, I heard that my Mom and Sasha had also arrived, looking on with horror at the monstrosity lying there, plugging up the pass with its body. Now, I finally understand what Mikki-2 told us, and the decor of that corpse showed me how a fully built army could die just like that. What else was out there if this type of thing could live and evolve on the other side? Maybe beasts lived there, ones that wouldn't even fit through this pass? I was glad that the mountains were here, or we may have been in great trouble.

When they returned, the sun was already halfway below the horizon, and we were studying the pieces of the monster they had brought back. Its shell was made out of keratin; at least, that is what I thought. It resembled how horns or antlers felt to the touch, but I could have been wrong. It was hard and heavy; simply hacking it with swords did little to no damage to it. It needed blunt force, as when hammers hit it; after a dozen well-placed strikes, some dents and cracks finally appeared on it.

The other thing I examined that night was its foul-smelling blood. It was vivid green but didn't glow in the dark. I hope this meant it wasn't radioactive. Besides being nasty and somewhat sticky, it didn't prove to be poisonous after being smeared on a pig. We even fed a little to it. Still, we decided to keep a watch on the animal for the next couple of days and forbade anybody from touching it directly. I wasn't going to take it leisurely.

It was hard sleeping that night as my mind was racing, wanting to go and see the beast up close for myself. Luckily, no second wave or another giant monster tried coming through, so we could relax a little. When morning came, and Sasha and I walked out of our room, Merlin was already there, dressed, almost bouncing in place, urging us to go. He couldn't sit still at breakfast either, finishing it in two bites, going on and on about the samples that he was 'playing' with since early morning.

"I don't like this." Sasha exclaimed as I climbed my horse, but it was my Mother who answered her, holding her hand.

"Accept it. If something happens to you, that would be the worst outcome. Now, you are doing what we tell you, understand? You are no longer only responsible for your and my son's health but my future grandson! Or granddaughter! You stay here, young lady!"

"I wouldn't argue!" I shrugged, remembering my father's advice, making her smile softly as she knew there was no way any of us would let her follow me.

"Relax, I'll be back in a moment's notice!" I winked at her before riding out, Merlin sitting behind me, almost standing on a horse to see better.

When we arrived, I ensured everyone wore their gloves, hoodies, and scarves wrapped around their mouth and nose. Not that it needed to be told twice the closer we got to it...

"I don't know what this thing was eating, but it had to be the worst thing on this earth!" I grunted, with my scarf wrapped around my mouth, hiding a scented soap within, but it wasn't helping much. I wasn't alone with the assessment, as the other soldiers, including Merlin, nodded rapidly at my words. After we stopped, our horses began complaining with loud neighs, but there was nothing they could do. I watched as my excited Prime Minister jumped off and ran in the knee-deep snow, beginning to examine the openings on the monster's back, right where our cannons hit it.

"I can see multiple organs within! Plus, it's blood is getting crystallized! Is it because of the cold, or is it because it's a demon?" He asked nobody in particular, shoveling some snow away with frozen, green blood tainting it. "Huh..." He stopped suddenly, looking around and then tilting his head left and right.

"What is it?" I asked, waiting for his assessment, my heart rate increasing.

"I feel the presence of CC... and it has to be a big one..."

Looking at his eyes... he wasn't lying. I knew he wasn't. Holy... Shit. With a loud order, I commanded everyone to back off, get further away, and keep clear of its blood. We hurriedly set up a perimeter around the body, digging in and creating trenches while I sent back the word so Mom and Sasha wouldn't get a panic attack on the walls, watching us.

When the preparations were done, I told Merlin to try to focus on the feeling of CC and summon a magic formation. Let us see what happens then...

"Worry not, My Lord! I am much better by now!"

At first, nothing happened when he began chanting, speaking out the names of the runes while his hand stretched forward. It was my first time seeing him this seriously, and he didn't even try wordless casting. It was around the twentieth rune when there was a response.

"Um... My Lord..." Merlin shuddered, looking back at me while we saw a red magic ring appear above the corpse.

"Tell me it is you..."

"No..."

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" I roared, rushing out and dragging the boy back as everyone ducked into the snow trench.

When no explosion came, I peeked, and it was just the right time to see a massive flaming column rise to the sky.

"Fuck..."

It was luckily contained around the base of the corpse, burning so hot it melted the snow all around us. Even in our trench, it felt like standing in the proximity of an open kiln where steel was being superheated. Right when it was getting dangerously bad, just as it came, it was gone. Now drenched, muddied, and nearly cooked, we looked back up to see the smoking and smoldering carcass of the giant monster. What remained were its white bones, its shell... and a giant dodecahedron rolling out of its shell. It was still glowing as the formation disappeared and the world returned to normalcy.

"What spell did you try?" I asked Merlin, feeling it hard to find my voice.

"I wanted to burn a hole into it..." He murmured, sounding guilty.

"Well... next time, try just making it weightless, okay?"

"Hauh..."

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

"I can't believe it!" I exclaimed for the hundredth time, standing in the castle's main ground, looking at the giant, raw CC standing before us. It was the size of a small shed, and both Merlin and Sasha confirmed that it was charged to the brim, even after that little stunt we pulled. I don't need to say, but neither my Mom nor Sasha was pleased... and my ears were still ringing just thinking about it.

Well... we were all lucky, not just us. Mainly because if this CC was that charged, all the mines would have exploded around us. Thank the Six Gods that this monstrosity strolled far enough to trigger them all.

"Me neither." They replied, and Merlin stepped forward, giggling and raising the whole thing. "Look! I am super strong!"

"Don't break it, kiddo!" I snorted, grinning, seeing him play with the giant 'crystal.'

"What could this mean...?" Sasha whispered, but I had no answer. "Such a beast, having something within itself..." I had no answer for her.

Were all beasts like this? Or only the big ones? How did this thing get into their bodies? Do they eat it, and it accumulates within them? Or are they born with it? Whatever the case was, it explained why some of them could use spells. They had an internal magic engine that they could tap into by instinct. I couldn't help but agree with an old quote... Nature always finds a way.

"Are we going to break it up? We could manufacture so many CCs from this!" Merlin shouted, putting it down and hopping back to us while Oleg and the rest were preparing to take it back to Avalon. I already explained to them that because it is charged, they MUST avoid any and all formations, or it may activate them.

"We will, but we will also keep a big chunk of it back. Didn't we need this to begin our project?"

"Woah!" Merlin shuddered, his eyes beginning to glow and sparkle like stars, "I totally forgot about it! Yes, yes! This would be perfect!"

"What I am also curious about are the bones." I added, turning my attention toward the multiple boxes of it. After examining the corpse and what remained of it, the bones within were... unique. Examining all of them, we came to the conclusion they had runes on them. Everything pointed in that direction. How did they get on there? No idea, but we will bring all of it back and study it. This was something wild... wilder than the CC itself.

"What are you going to do with the rest of the corpse?" My Mom asked, walking up to us, wearing a scarf and spraying perfume in the air with a grumpy expression.

"Nature will do its course. Even if it isn't harmful and Merlin here cooked it, I wouldn't eat it. No way. So, we will let it decompose and let the earth absorb it. Then, we can collect the rest of its bones-"

"I am coming with you." She interrupted me at once. "I already told Kalash. I am not staying here! Not until the stench is gone!"

"Sure." I shrugged, watching her leave the moment I agreed, with Sasha elbowing me.

"Bully..."

"Why?" Merlin asked, looking confused before my wife began explaining.
"Leon wants her to go to Avalon so she can teach more traders and fulfill her role as a Minister. The Traders Guild is operating nicely, but we can't make already experienced caravaners stay back and instruct the newcomers. We want to expand our available merchants... So she needs to be in Avalon for that to select and teach them! What Leon failed to mention is that I am already preparing a formation for you, Merlin, to burn the corpse away so we can collect the rest of its skeleton."

"I think she knows." I added, turning back towards the giant CC. "She would have come with us anyway, as she will keep an eye on you at all times."

"Huh?" Sasha flinched, finally comprehending it.

"Yeah, get used to it, my dear. Now that you are pregnant... Mom will be your new shadow, making sure you deliver a healthy child!"

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