Steel and Mana

Chapter 271 – Elvira’s Revenge

Mirian was sitting in the palace of Cerna, reading the news that arrived a few hours ago detailing the happenings within the Frontier. She was astonished at what it contained: that they not only held out but also brought down the flying ship, killed Pascal's mage, and captured thousands of soldiers.

"Ahahahaha!" she laughed loudly, shaking her hands with the bundle of letters in them. "I so want to know how that old monster felt!"

"What happened?" Milan asked, walking up to her, bringing his own news from their city. He was just entering their room when his wife began laughing, surprising him but feeling that something good had to happen.

"Pascal lost one of his followers." She grinned, "Plus, I'm pregnant."

“…?!”

Milan almost fell over after hearing her words. He… expected it. The pregnant part. Mirian told him that every Ishillian woman with magic, if using a specific spell on themselves and welcoming their partner's seed on a certain day, ought to bear magic-capable offspring. And they did it, not wanting to wait, not knowing if there would be a chance for it, with everything going on… But hearing it confirmed made Milan realize it was indeed becoming a reality. He will be a father.

"That's wonderful! Are you sure?!"

"Yeah, they defeated–"

"No, I mean, being pregnant!" He hurried over, making Mirian grin.

"Of course. I can feel the change. I am sure of it. You'll see it for yourself after a few months, fufufu." It took Milan a bit of time to calm down and finally be drawn back to the letters and his own report he was bringing. "So… did something happen?" She asked, hugging her husband and caressing his chest.

"The two ships appeared today, too, but stayed further away now. They didn't leave and are hovering at our borders." He began, his tone more serious than before, "I think they are going to place the Silver Region under a full blockade. If anyone wants to migrate to us, they will find it really hard. Their journey was already dangerous because of this harsh winter, but even if it melts, I don't think many will be able to make the trip anymore."

"It would have happened sooner or later." Mirian nodded, thinking about their next step. "We concentrate on what we have. Leon is preparing a conquest to unite the North behind us. Most minor nobles are with us, except the Westland and its surrounding allies."

"Are we joining him in it?"

"Yes and no." Mirian chuckled, "You will need to get used to piloting my Spear."

"It is still weird when you say it like that, and your hands move where they are now…"

"Fufufu!" She giggled, indeed holding her husband's spear between her fingers. "We will stroke, I mean, strike from two sides. But you will need to be careful! You will draw out one of the ships of my old ancestor to prompt it to come closer… And then I will pound it with the Judgement. Our goal will be to bring it down. Or, if we are lucky, both of them."

"Do you think they will bite?" Milan asked, sighing with pleasure.

"Even if they won't, it will make it impossible for Pascal to stop Leon from uniting the North. That will help us greatly, and when the snow melts… I have a feeling that all hell will break loose. But before that… there is something else."

"The spy." He murmured, knowing that there was still one mage in Cerna who probably didn't know his Master had perished. Even if they were connected with some kind of magic, it was clearly a one-way spell, allowing Otto to get a feeling of his subordinates and not vice versa.

"Yes… We will have to eliminate him." Mirian whispered, "I will contact Elvira. This job will require me to be present personally."

"Miri…"

"It's fine!" she smiled, her hands continuing to please her husband. "I am an Ishillian. This, I can handle."

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….
……

"I am sorry that I am already sending you on a conquest." I said, starting the meeting with Oleg, Pion, and a dozen of my high-ranking military officers.

"We are ready to serve." They answered in a chorus, one hand slapping their chests, saluting me.

"Even though my wife healed the injured, exhaustion is a thing. Make sure to listen to her and only collect those of our soldiers who are ready both physically and mentally. This is not a revenge campaign! Don't let them do what our enemy did. We are better than that."

"Don't worry, My Sovereign." Oleg nodded, looking at the commanders with a strict gaze, "We are not animals."

"Good." I clapped, watching over them. "I don't think they are going to expect us to retaliate so quickly. I am bringing out multiple howitzers and tractors from the Pass. You will have ample mechanized units to plow the snow away and march quicker than they did. Polo!"

"Yes, My Sovereign?" He asked, saluting, standing at attention like a lance, ready to serve.

"How's your body?"

"No issues. I had ample rest, and I am willing to serve. My machine is fixed up and ready to sortie!"

"Good. You will go with them. The presence of the Rook is to scare them into submission. They lost their armies, which were scattered in retreat. You will also try to find them before these bastard mercenaries cause more trouble and remain here as pesky bandits. Use them to unify the regions and show them that we provide protection!"

"What if the Westland doesn't surrender?" Pion asked, making me fall silent before giving the order with a strict look.

"Make it surrender. Kill the nobles and spare the regular people. I don't need the former, and I want to elevate the latter. Bring down their walls with superior firepower. After taking the city, I want you to establish a stronghold there to oversee its rebuilding." I finished, looking at Pion, who was clearly surprised by my final order.

"Me?" He asked, pointing at himself.

"Yes. Also, I want you to take Matilda and her sons with you." I continued, increasing his surprise even further. "She is more experienced with ruling, so she will be a great help. After conquering the city, I need you to establish a properly working system that won't collapse, not even if we leave later. I want that region to be a close ally to us and our western gate to the neighboring countries."

"I will do my best." Pion saluted, accepting his role without asking questions and being clear about his new mission.

"What should we do after we conquered the city of Hospet?" Oleg asked, not doubting that they would succeed before winter ended.

"The Rook and a handful of soldiers can stay. Select enough of them to maintain public order. The rest, I will need you back. We don't know what the changes within the Pass will mean in the future. We must be ready for unexpected changes."

"It will be hard maintaining communication." Pion hummed, rubbing his chin, knowing the distance between Hospet and Avalon.

"It will be, but only until we finish our airship." I smiled, making them look at me, but I said no more.

While Merlin was immersed in his thoughts and working on the formation we found, Sasha and I were dismantling the crashed Ishillian ship. Our secret base was constantly being built within the mountain. With the captured prisoners, many of my workers were being allocated to work on its construction instead of toiling in the mines. We could also start building our own airship. With this, we can begin to establish our first hidden factory and military base while it is constantly being expanded and improved.

"One more thing!" I exclaimed before ending our meeting, "I don't expect you to find our agents alive. Not after the bastard's death… But if you do... Recover them. Bring them home, if for nothing else, to be buried here. In the city, they served with their lives."

"Yes, My Sovereign!" They shouted, saluting once again, ready to prepare Avalon's very first march and conquest.

…
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It was a dark, cold night, with the chilly wind howling through the streets of Cerna, blowing the fresh snow off the rooftops here and there. As the city had a curfew in effect, the only figures patrolling the slippery cobblestone streets were the guards; anyone else found outside after eight was hauled away and questioned. To maintain her secrecy, Elvira's position of a spy was only known to very few people within Cerna, forcing her to silently slip past a group of four guards, becoming one with the shadows of the dark alleys that were her new home since arriving in the city.

Walking through the dark streets, she felt that she was back in her element, ready to release her pent-up anger. She knew that her sisters failed, receiving the reports of the assault on Lothlia from Mirian. Since then, she wanted to do nothing but kill the mage herself, but she had to remain patient, keep up her part, and play along… Until now. Finally, they were making their move.

The trap has been set; it was her chance to take revenge for her sisters' fates.

"I hope you will squeal… you bastard." She whispered, her hot breath coming out in puffs, lingering before her face before descending the steps to a basement under a darkened stone house.

"Stop." A voice called out to her in the dark, chilly room, and Elvira could feel a sword's tip pushing against her back.

"It is me." she declared, pulling back the snow-covered cloak on her head. This revealed her features to the guard, who completely melted into the darkness along with his blade. The moment she spoke, a match was struck, and soon, another figure appeared in front of her, holding a candle and raising it to see Elvira's figure more clearly.

"It is indeed her." He nodded, and she could feel the blade being pulled back from her rear, no longer threatening to sever her spine in a swift thrust.

After clearing her identity and opening the metal door behind the candle-holding man, Elvira stepped further into the basement. The flickering candlelight was snuffed out the moment she entered the second room, which was lit by four torches, illuminating the spacious underground chamber. Across her, Roth looked as if he had already predicted her arrival, sitting at a small, round table with a mug, his eyes drawn into narrow slits and watching her every move. She suddenly felt like her target already knew her identity. Maybe he knew it since the start… she had a hunch that it was the case. But maybe not; she had to try and keep up the play, as who could say this was just not a test from Roth?

"They know!" Elvira hissed, stepping closer, her voice laced with urgency. "We need to move; the city guards have been alerted, and they will set up a trap for us!"

"Is that so?" Roth raised an eyebrow in answer, a smirk appearing on his face. The two guards followed Elvira in, closing the door behind them, while Roth's remaining last man stood next to his table. "Or are you trying to lead us into the trap they already had prepared for me? Curious because… I haven't felt my Master's presence for days now. Strange coincidence."

Before Elvira could respond, Roth snapped his fingers, and the core of their group shifted as the three men lunged toward her, weapons already drawn. Elvira's face turned into a dark grin—Roth's guards were a mere inconvenience. She preferred it this way… Blood needed to be spilled for his sisters!

When the first one reached her, the blade in his hand flashed in the dim light, confident he would have a clear cut at her from this close. Yet Elvira's body spun like a dark whirlwind, her hidden dagger made of monster bone finding its way into her palm and striking at his exposed throat with ruthless precision. She barely broke stride, yanking the blade free in one motion, letting the warm blood spray on her face as his body crumpled.

The second soldier hesitated, just for a moment, the realization of her skill freezing him for a fraction too long. She immediately capitalized on it, sidestepping his thrust and twisting his arm back with surprising force until the bones in his hand cracked and gave way. She slid her dagger cleanly through his ribcage, her face inches from his, her voice a whisper only he could hear.

"Pathetic..."

Roth backed away, fingers twitching in frustration as he tried to summon his magic. He had begun to cast a spell since she had stepped into the room... everything else was just him trying to buy time. However, feeling the strangeness, he knew he had been played.

"Why… why can’t I…” His gaze went wide with horror. He couldn't will his spell into existence.

It wasn't Elvira's doing. Outside, Mirian was standing on the rooftop of a nearby house, personally casting a spell that was similar to Avalon's jamming spells but also different. She wanted to impress Elvira and, through her, Leon, not knowing that Avalon had a similar card hidden in their sleeves. Lastly, it was also an excellent opportunity for her to practice. Unlike what Merlin and Leon had developed, Mirian's spell had a very simple principle. The mage's formation created a field where it became the immediate medium. For any new spells to be formed, they had to pass by or through it. It was simple yet effective, as only those genius wizards could do it, the people who were capable of adjusting their formations on the fly to ignore the interference and still come out in full force. Sadly… Roth was not one of them.

While Roth's mind raced to what was going wrong, Elvira's last opponent lunged, a brute of a man with a heavy sword. She ducked his sluggish swing, springing up like a shadow to hook her arm around his neck from behind, twisting her dagger into his jugular with a brutal strength until his struggling and gurgling ceased. When the last guard fell, a silence followed, broken only by Roth's shallow breaths.

Elvire slowly turned toward him, breathing heavily, grinning with a blood-soaked face as she closed the distance between them. Roth, trembling, backed against the cold stone wall, his hands frantically gesturing, trying once again to summon a spell—any spell—but nothing came.

"Magic isn't going to save you, Roth…" Elvira whispered, her voice coming out as a moan. Standing in front of him, she produced a thin metal collar from within her cloak, and Roth was smart enough to know this was not an ordinary slave collar. His eyes went wide with dread as she locked it around his neck. "But this.." Elvira continued to whisper, pulling the collar tight, "I will ensure you feel everything until the end… without exploding with pleasure, you soon-to-be dickless bastard…"

His hands clawed at the collar, but his fingers were weak and trembling under her gaze. Elvira leaned in close, enjoying his struggles. Her nose touched his, and she took a deep breath with deep satisfaction.

"Watch me, my sister…" she hissed, "This one is for you…" With one swift motion, she slammed his head against the wall, her blade pressed dangerously against his crotch. "Now… let's get to cutting."