Steel and Mana

Chapter 242 – Autumn Winds

"We got a message!"

"From Number 1?" Asked Number 4, looking at her sister returning to their hideout, a cellar under an old blacksmith's workshop within the busy city of Hospet.

"It's Elvira now, no?" Number 2, who brought the letter, asked, giving it to her two sisters and letting them read it. "One of us will have to follow the guy back. Preferably, we should leave now and make the report before he has time to return to Lothlia."

"Eeeh? We just got here…" Number 3 moaned, and she knew they would, once again, draw sticks to see who would leave, just the same as when a decision had to be made.

"It is what it is! Elvira is staying behind; she has a date with the big guy!"

"Tsk, she always gets the good parts…" Number 4 shrugged, looking up at Number 2, who returned the feeling with her own sigh, fixing her tight clothes. There was not much in them that could jiggle, no matter how much she tried shaking her torso, tightening her corset.

"She has the weapons..." the other two answered, looking down at themselves. "Anyway, this is good because she would contact the source!"

"If she survives." Number 3 warned her second sister, "We are talking about a wizard. She could very well end up in a paste of gore after one wild sex-fueled death party."

"If Sis goes out, she goes out with a bang. I don't think that mage would have a dick after!" Number 4 joked, making them giggle like schoolgirls, "If she gets to work for the bastard, we can get straight to the origin of our troubles… And poison it."

"That's why we don't screw this up, okay?" Number 2 warned them, "We will do this… perfectly. Now, let's choose! One of us has to head back and warn the others that they will try and attack us!"

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Within Otto's headquarters, the old but now young-looking wizard stood before the open window, smoking a cigar, enjoying the midnight air that hit his naked body in his luxuriously decorated top-floor room. If anyone entered, they couldn't tell this was the same brothel as before his arrival, as the amount of gold, silk, and red velvet made it look as if it was prepared for a duke.

"That was something incredible." He murmured, blowing smoke out into the night, looking back over his shoulders at the naked Elvira, who was lying on the bed, smiling back at him. Her body was still wet and sweaty, and her hair was sticking to her body, giving her an even more enchanting look.

"I am a spy, my Lord. I have to know how to get into my target's bed to learn all of their secrets!" She giggled playfully, licking her lips.

"Ahaha! Yes, yes, that is true. I see why Ospeck was infatuated with you."

"I hope he didn't think it was any more than just satisfying the carvings of our flesh."

"Poor guy probably did. Oh well, you don't need to worry about that in our case! I just enjoy a good fucking."

"I like it when people are straightforward~!"

"Which you aren't ~!" He grinned, but Elvira's expression didn't change, leaning forward on the bed, answering in a seductive voice.

"I am a spy, My Lord."

"And I have something in mind for you to do."

"Should I spread my legs again?"

"Probably not." He turned around to face her fully, leaning against the windowsill. I am going to send you to the Silver Region. Currently, it is under the governance of Duke Kustov, a traitor to the throne. Worse, we have good information that the mad Empress is also taking up residence there. We need eyes in the city!"

"I can do that. It has to be easier than infiltrating Avalon. That place is way too closed off, and the people living there immediately notice people who aren't one of theirs. That place is unlike any other region within the empire."

"But first, you must select people you will bring with you for the mission. Build a reliable system. I will send an intermediate mage with you who will help you collect information!" He hummed, throwing the same recording device at Elvira, the very same she was studying while traveling with Ospeck. "She will be able to let you use this to its maximum capacity. I need the perfect mapping of the city and its defenses."

"Consider it…" Elvira smiled, playing with it before climbing down the bed, going before Otto on all fours, and beginning to lick his limp manhood until it became hard again. "Done~!"

"The mission… or?" He grinned, seeing her rub her face against it.

"Both~!" She answered, swallowing it whole, holding back her sudden impulse to bite down and watch a great wizard bleed out amongst agonizing screams.

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As clouds were gathering both in the west and south, the sky was surprisingly clear above Avalon. While summer was coming to an end, welcoming autumn and the time for harvest, subconsciously, everyone was beginning to prepare for the winter. The five villages that sparsely dotted the region were filled with people who found the city living too big of a leap from what they were used to. They were people who couldn't adjust to the sudden change, finding their peace in a rural lifestyle, away from the constant changes.

Still, they also greatly benefited from their Sovereign's inventions as they had built aqueducts and sewers for all of the villages, not to mention the roads connecting them to the flow of commerce. Life was very different in these villages than in Avalon, as people here mostly tended to their own gardens or the livestock, especially the sheep, providing the much-needed resources for Dorian, who was generous when buying them.

With money falling into their laps, any time some villager had an injury or fallen sick, it was no longer a risk, a roll of a dice that they would live or not. They just had to hire a carriage and travel to Avalon, where healers were ready to help them or, if needed, ask them to come out and visit them directly.

"Haaaah!" A long sigh echoed from the lips of a young girl as she stepped out of a moderately built house on the edge of a small village owned by a sheep herder family. She was barely sixteen, wearing traveling boots and a long, white cape as she pulled a waterskin and small soap from her belt and started washing her hands.

"Tired?" Asked a kind voice as an older woman walked out of the house, following her with a smile, doing the same before pulling down the mask that covered half of the lower part of her face.

"A bit…" She answered honestly, producing a small, white handkerchief, wiping her hand and then her sweaty forehead, adjusting her long but tied-up blonde hair. "But I will be used to it, Teacher Aru!"

"It is okay. Usually, we are not this busy." She encouraged her student while patting her back, "Don't try to save on the soap while washing hands, Kiki!"

"I didn't!" She nodded her head like a pigeon, following her teachings as she was one of the many new trainees who were becoming the next generation of healers within Avalon.

Since their Sovereign married Lady Mikan, under her care and organization, a new calling has been put out, searching for those who wanted to help the sick and the fallen, to cure the alignments of the body and mind. Her teachings and sermons were different from what the old church used to do, and they were also cheaper or entirely free. The old ways, the rotten people from those times, disappointed Aru when she was younger, but since the change, she found her faith again and knew this was her true calling—something she now taught to others and gladly so.

With Marca and her industry backing them, the wonders of alchemy, or as Lady Marca began calling it, chemistry, made medicine widely available. It was no longer only the privilege of rich people or nobles. Of course, the most crucial part, as Mikan's teachings told them, was prevention. She wrote multiple lessons and 'laws' about what a healer must do when working with the sick. There were numerous articles in the newspaper, too, including a whole show of the Sovereign's Sessions, dedicated to educating the listeners on how to ensure they don't risk their health.

"It is still a wonderful job, isn't it?" Aru asked, watching her young student nod.

"It is!" She beamed at her because they were there to help the mayor's wife give birth to her third child and also a perfect chance to educate Kiki, giving her the much-needed experience.

Of course, they were not the only healers, as multiple of them worked within Avalon, followed the army, opened their clinics in the city, or regularly visited the villages as traveling healers. Not everyone could do it, though, as every healer had to have a certification issued and signed by their Sovereign and had to renew it every five years.

"Girl or boy?" Arrived a third voice as, a soldier came up to them, being at the same age as Kiki. He was wearing a simple, unadorned uniform with a mark on his arm, displaying he was still a recruit in training, doing his mission of escorting them while also performing the yearly census for the Ministry.

"A healthy boy!" Aru answered. "They hadn't chosen a name yet."

"That's fine. I just need to report it back home so the clerks will visit and register him as a citizen when winter comes."

The notebook was thick in his hand, filled with writings and reports he was documenting, being part of his training. Of course, he wasn't alone as more of his comrades were going from house to house, writing up everybody and checking their little identification booklets that now every Avalonian had. On the surface, they were simply counting the people of Avalon, but their second objective was something that got hammered into them in training: searching for spies. War was coming, and part of their training was to ensure their senses and intuition were as sharp and honed as possible.

"They can come before winter." Kiki answered him with a bit of indignation, "He will be alive and well!"

"I-it is protocol…" the young soldier mumbled, looking away, not wanting to argue with her.

Watching them made Aru chuckle, and she patted her student's shoulder to hold back her spiciness. Since the law required everyone to master writing and reading, and thanks to the newspapers reaching the villages, simple things such as washing their hands became part of their daily lives. Were there still risks? Of course, but dying during childbirth or immediately after was drastically reduced.

"Let's go!" Aru interrupted them, "We still need to check on the other families and make a general assessment. The weather will slowly begin to cool down, and rain will start to fall before winter arrives… It is best to remind everyone what to do to avoid becoming sick!"

"Yes, my lady!" The boy saluted, while Kiki nodded at her teacher, happily following her steps, hoping that one day it would be her to teach a new generation just the same…