Steel and Mana

Chapter 46 – Winter Experiments (1)

In the capital city, far away from the Frontier Region, the Empress of Envy was leisurely soaking inside her bathtub, letting the sweet fragrances coming from it caress her senses and relax her mind.

*BEEP*

"..."

*BEEP*

"..."

*BEEP*

"WHAT?!" She shouted, opening her eyes, her voice carrying a blast of mana in all directions. Reacting to it, one of the mirrors flew off from the walls of her marble-covered bathroom, hovering above her tub, and her ancestor's old face came into view. 

"Took you long enough, Kathrien!"

"Calling me by name?" She scoffed, letting the thick foam cover her body below her neck, "You want something then, Pascal. Be quick, I am meditating; I have no time for your problems."

"Yes, I do want something, and it is your problem, too!" He answered, clearly annoyed, not hiding his displeasure. "You let my fat sheep slip away!"

"I did what? Are you having episodes again? Like when you thought you were a duck?"

"No! The young priestess I was raising! Why did you let her slip out of the city?! You know I can't leave its boundaries! Now I need to find a replacement for the ritual!"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I am going to cut the connection if you just called me to vent."

"Don't you dare!"

"I don't even know who you are referring to, geezer!"

"The descendant of Morningstar! Since finding her, I have wanted to use the fat sheep in my ritual! She is so full of mana; using her would have extended my lifespan by even 9 to 10 years!"

"Ahh, I see. She left? To where?"

"To the Frontier. To the little guy's territory you sent down to me so I can see if he is a Vasa mage or not!"

"Oh, yeah, I did tell the church to send a replacement there. I didn't expect that they would dispatch her... but it isn't strange either. That woman is trash and the disgrace of magic; I would have gotten rid of her, too, if not for your idiocy."

"Argh! Now, I need to take out one of the youngsters from the academy!"

"Choose one with an insignificant ability; I hate when you snack on my mages!"

"I already have my candidates."

"What candidates?" This time, the ruler of the Empire finally sat up in her tub, not minding the fact that her bare chest became visible. "Do you know how rare they are?!"

"I need to complete the ritual in a year, and if I'm lucky, they may give me 3 or 4 years... Don't you dare complain now! Not after you are using my expertise in creating your toys to wage your wars!"

"Tsk... You should accept the fact that your time has long gone, old man! Even if your fatty returns later, she will give you 10 years. Then what? The next time, even someone like her would only give you 1 or 2! You. Will. Die."

This time, it was Pascal who wanted to hear nothing more, cutting the feed as the mirror flew back to its place, making Empress Kathrien lean back with a triumphant smile. Of course, she knew that Priestess Mikan left the city; it was she who gave the final authorization to let her go. She had no value as she was incapable of even the simplest of healing spells and only consumed precious resources, giving back nothing. 

Plus, there was Pascal's case. The old man was a very useful teacher and mentor, but he was in the way by now. His clinging to life had gone on way beyond what humanly should be possible, and she feared that one day, she would find herself as a snack for the old wizard. Who says if she would be the first of his kin to be consumed in his fight against mortality. She had already learned all that she needed; he was no longer an asset but a burden. As to the priestess and that ugly boy? She no longer bothered about them at all. The Frontier was a desolate place; not even the Gods could turn it into a prosperous region.

...

....

......

"I never saw this much snow!" Luna sighed loudly as she looked out the palace window, watching Oleg's newest volunteers shovel the snow away as part of their exercises before heading to school to continue their studies. 

"It wasn't snowing in the capital?" Asked Sasha, "It is farther down south, that is true..."

"No, there was snow, but here? I can slip knee-high into it! Brrr!"

"I should drop an ice cube down into your dresses." I added, making them shiver and protest against the idea. "Now I want to do it even more so!" With a laugh, I put the quill down, stretching and rubbing my wrist. "I think I will have this day off!"

"What do you want to do?" Hearing my words, Sasha was already beside me, looking at me like a kid, and I couldn't help but tickle her tummy. She was just so damn cute when acting innocent. 

"I thought about going out and building a snowman! Maybe some snowforts, too? And we can have a snowball fight. You two against me!"

"Yes!" Luna joined in, clapping, unable to restrain her excitement as she became much more open since becoming friends with Sasha. 

We barely left the palace and began building an oversized snowman when Oleg returned with hurried steps. 

"My Lord, a carrier pigeon has arrived! Beasts were seen in the pass; an attack is imminent!"

"I see... Well, girls, we have to postpone our playtime! Get ready, we are moving to my parents' castle! Oleg, find Merlin and tell him that while I'm gone, he will deal with the issues that may pop up while you stay and assist him!"

"As you order, My Lord!"

Leaving the city slowed us down considerably as the roads disappeared under the heavy snow. One day, I would employ people who will keep them clean and maybe even use it as a conditioning for the army in the winter, but right now, that remains a faraway option.

Behind us, a squad of soldiers were following in our steps, carrying giant stone backpacks. They were engraved with the weight-nullifying formation, remaining active throughout the journey.

"I can barely feel my legs!" Luna groaned and complained after our arrival, her thick, coated leggings soaked because of the snow beginning to melt inside the castle walls.

"Go with her to my old room," I patted Sasha's shoulder, "Take a bath with her, and after you warm up, come to the walls! I will go talk with my Father while you finish!"

"A bath does sound good, brrr!" Luna murmured, continuing to complain as my wife led her away, and I went with my men right up to the wall, blocking the entrance to the plains. The sun was already ducking down behind us, and multiple fires were raging on the walls, illuminating the fortifications.

"You were fast, son!"

"I was waiting for this!" I laughed, hurrying up to him, standing beside a ballista that could fire horse-sized bolts with enough stopping power to nail even a lightly armored vehicle in my days. "I see you brought out the heavy weapons, huh?"

"This winter is harsher than anything in the past ten years." He nodded, looking at the soldiers who kept their eyes on the constantly darkening horizon. "Beast gets angry and daring in times like this."

It was a weird place. The mountain here was reaching towards the sky like the sharp teeth of the land, wanting to bite the clouds above them. The pass itself was a constantly sneaking, narrow corridor, disappearing in the distance, leading to the unknown wilderness. One day, I may go and take a look, but right now, I do not have the drive nor the resources to entertain the idea for real. 

"I also see that you brought some inventions over?" Father asked, diverting my thoughts toward the stone boxes.

"Yep! They are a type of consumables." I began explaining, opening one up and showing him it was filled with book-sized stone tablets engraved with different formations. "These are all the ones that I managed to create and are considered stable! This will be their live test and also the first time Sasha can show us what a real witch is like!"

"Will it be safe?"

"I know you are nervous, but don't worry. I trust her; she will do her best, and you will be surprised how good she is! I have been making her practice, drawing them up on paper, and making her use them up. She already got the hang of it, you will see. If I could get her a proper staff or something, I bet she would be able to begin using magic by incantations and not relying on my drawings!"

"I understood half of that, son, but I believe in you."

"Hehehe~ Thanks~! Tomorrow, when the sun is up, I want to go out and place a few of them outside. Especially the ones that are trap-like formations that become explosive when activated!"

"..."

"No need to look at me like that... They are entirely safe, promise! I told you, Sasha is better than you think; you'll see. What I want to test is whether they activate if a beast comes near them or not. That would finally be concrete proof that they are magical in nature."

"I think they are. I never saw any normal animal grow that big and breathe fire."

"True, but that just could be some kind of evolutionary difference. Fire can be produced in more ways than one. I need to know because if they are using mana, that means that the other side of the mountains is different to our end."

When Sasha appeared, she was alone, and to my question where Luna was, she told me that my mother asked for her. Huh... What for? I hope she will not order her to do some weird things... oh well.

"Will you be okay?" Father asked, stepping next to Sasha, rubbing her head, smiling at her while the sun finally disappeared for good, letting the temperature plummet even faster.

"Don't worry, I survived multiple winters outside! I will be fine! Even back then, I could warm myself up, and now I can combat the cold without thinking about it!" She had just finished when a horn interrupted us, signaling that from one of the four towers, a sentry noticed something. 

"Let me light up the scenery!" I grinned, giving Sasha one of the tablets, and she knew what to do at once.

Holding it out, focusing on it, her body was gradually surrounded by a deep, crimson hue as the formation came to life and shot a bright, red flare into the sky, accompanied by a loud whistle. 

"It's like a red moon has risen..." Father whispered, seeing the land below it illuminated. It quickly revealed the beast in the distance, and from here, I could not make it out well enough, but it seemed like some winged, white-furred feline. The fact that I could recognize its features also meant it was pretty big, around the size of an elephant. 

"It's... thinking?" I hummed, leaning against the wall, noting in my head that I must create binoculars sometime soon.

"They are more intelligent than ordinary beasts but are still animals. You remember what happened last time when Sasha was here, no?"

"True... Well, even if it is smart enough to know it has been discovered, it isn't ready for what comes next. Sasha, try this!" I said, giving her another tablet, and after looking at the engravings on it, she nodded, knowing full well which it was. "Watch closely, Dad! You are going to love this!"

When she activated it, the tablet broke the moment the spell manifested itself. With a piercing whistle, a red 'rocket' flew forward, almost at the speed of sound, exploding near the beast. Although it didn't hit it, the explosion threw the snow dozens of meters into the air and knocked it off its feet. We could see it scamper, roaring as it ran away as fast as it could, not looking back, rushing for its life.

"Sorry... I missed!"

"It's okay!" I laughed, hugging her waist, "It was farther away than anything you ever tried to hit before! It was great; you almost got it!"

"What was that?" Father asked, finding his jaw and pushing it back into place while the rest of the soldiers broke into a loud hubbub.

"A proper spell for a mage, trained to be on the frontlines! I stole the concept from our dear Empress and recreated it! From the description alone, they use it for long-range attacks, eliminating the leading figureheads of the enemy army." I answered proudly, nodding towards the other unused tablets, "I brought along some nice toys, Dad... I can't wait to try them out!"