Steel and Mana

Chapter 150 – Miri & Milly

"Leon, I think I managed to solve the issue!" Merlin said proudly as he entered my office, holding a stack of papers under his arms. "It turns out the brainwaves were being amplified and broadcasted freely, an oversight on my part."

"Oversight?" I chuckled, shaking my head. "You made it so open that it could be dangerous for the pilot. What if an enemy mage gets in and overtakes it or something? We can't let everyone just connect to our open broadcast willy-nilly!"

"I fixed it! I did!" he protested immediately, "I have made modifications to it, and Sasha is already applying it for the next testing. The system should now be closed and undetectable. That's not all, I made a few additions, too!"

"I'm listening." I nodded, watching him put the papers on my desk. 

"Now, it is a toggleable function. Of course, with proper protection applied to it. But you can broadcast your thoughts in a wide range, direct them to a specific target, or even link up with a second one!"

"You are thinking ahead of time, huh?" I asked, smiling, because I was also working on the same idea: turning the sudden discovery into a way for future mechs to communicate with each other on the battlefield. He was simply faster than me.

"I learned from the best!"

"You little flatterer, ahaha! Good work, I was doing the same thing, but I will adapt yours then."

"Oh... Um... sorry..."

"It's fine. No work is being wasted here. I will move on to continue working on the machine parts while I leave the magical stuff to you. Now that the cockpit is functioning, I want you to focus on synching it up with the other formations on the skeleton of the mech. We are going to manufacture the torso and then the arms, and I want them to be assembled before summer ends.

"What are we going to equip it with?" He asked curiously while I bit down on the end of my pen.

"I am still working on it."

I was. Right now, I was toying with multiple ideas. First, I was going to go with some simple things. A shield and a sword should work without issues. Of course, later on, we can innovate and enhance it, but let's start with some baby steps. Of the spells I was looking to use for sure, one was our Trojan. I thought of putting it on the shield and making the mech capable of negating magic attacks with it, but I was also playing with the idea of getting my hand on the shield technology we saw their flying ships utilize. That would either double the effectiveness of a physical shield or replace it and have the machine dual-wield something else. Or make it able to wield a two-handed weapon.

As for ranged options, I was working on an enlarged version of the Dragonfire Cannon. I could give it to them as a hand, but this was the beauty of my design. I could use their broad shoulders as weapon platforms! With its modularity, things could be easily added or replaced if we develop something new, so the variety of any other future mech should be almost endless. Hahaha... This was firing me up, wanting to make as many versions as possible!

Anyway, for now, I was going to make much larger cannons and install them on its shoulders, designing a platform for them so they could be rotated in a hundred and eighty, so if they must, they could fire behind them. With a monster's CC being its main core, I can divert energy from there to the cannons, so they would not need constant ammunition refills. I am also aware that it could sap their time to remain operational, but it was a payoff I would be okay with. In a battle, it is better to have a constantly active core that you can use to fire anytime and scale the strength of the attack to your liking without having to manually load CC into its formation.

As for aiming... Now, that was the more challenging part. I had ideas, but their execution had to wait. First, I needed the completed mech and tested how it felt to pilot it. Would I be able to feel the legs and arms as my own? Could I walk, turn, and look as I wanted? Would the mounted weapons focus on where I looked, or would that require me to design something new? There were many questions that we would only know after trying it out.

"Haaah... I feel like a kid before Christmas." I murmured, rubbing my chin, "Even if I know what I will get as a present, I still can't help but be excited and want the day to arrive as soon as possible!"

"Um..." Merlin asked, raising a hand, looking a bit confused. "What is a Christmas?"

"A very famous birthday." I chuckled without explaining it further, deciding it was time to visit the factory and see how things were going.

...

....

......

"Long live the Empress! Long live her Majesty!" 

Echoed the loud shout within the throneroom of Ishillia, where all the current Dukes, Marquesses, and Earls were gathering, greeting their newest ruler, Mirian Ishillia I. It was at the end of a long ceremony where everyone, one by one, was swearing their fielty and blood oath to the new ruler. It was literal bloodletting because they were made to cut their hands, let the blood drip into a cup, and then press a bloodied finger onto an official document. The longwinded paragraphs on it detail that their power comes from Ishillia, and they are bound to serve it in return, signed by blood, active to their death and even beyond it. 

Not only did the current nobles have to do it, but their appointed heirs also accompanied them and did the same. While Duke Kustov's face was calm and collected, reciting the oath and swearing his fealty to the new Empress, Milan, his son couldn't say the same. He was standing next to him, repeating his words with a much more nervous look. Although he was used to mingling with others, even with the older dukes' families after finishing the Academy, he stood before his Empress this time. Someone who could lift them up with one word or toss them into the abyss with another. 

He was so nervous that he dared not look at her directly, making him miss a surprising fact that did not escape the eyes of the other nobles. Even his own father began feeling nervous because Empress Mirian had been looking at his son since they entered the room. It would not have been weird or an issue if it happened once or twice. But throughout the ceremony, her eyes fell at least a dozen times on Milan while she maybe looked at the other heirs and nobles three or four times. It was not normal... Did this mean something good or bad? Deep down, Duke Kustov was already devising the worst-case scenario, thinking about how to smuggle his family out while he stayed behind, taking on the whole royal bloodline to buy enough time for them to escape. For his family... and for Avalon.

After the end of the ceremony, the new Empress thanked the families for coming and made a request that was surprising yet expected, given how much she was eyeing the young heir of the Kustov family. It was simple... the two should stay behind for a private meeting. Of course, Kustov agreed without making a fuss, bowing towards the throne and his ruler, while the rest of the nobles left, making strange faces, some old families having jealous anger burning in their eyes as they passed by them.

"Duke," Mirian spoke, standing up from her throne and began walking down the golden steps wearing a long, black silk dress. She stopped right when she was just a step higher than them, looking calmly at old Kustov. "From now on, if I want to do something, I will tell your family first, and you will rely on my edicts to the others."

"As you order, Your Majesty." He bowed respectfully, trying to think what was going on but also excited, knowing he could be of service to his Sovereign much quicker than he expected.

"Mhm. Leave now." She nodded, finishing quickly, but the moment the nervous Milan wanted to follow him, Mirian's voice made them stop. "Not you. The boy stays."

"Your-" Kustov tried speaking, but Mirian's strict glare shut him up very quickly. He had no option but to nod at his son, telling him with his eyes to be careful before leaving. 

"My... My Empress... I..." Milan stuttered, feeling he would piss himself right now if she did anything sudden. Was this the second coming of Envy? Previously, if someone was told to stay with the Empress, they would end up dead in an hour.

"Follow me, Milan Kustov." She ordered, beginning to walk, and he had no other choice but to obey her, not knowing where to look. Her dress let her back wholly open, barely closing up at the start of her waist... The way she was twisting her hips and butt was like hypnosis, both arousing Milan's young and hormone-filled mind but almost making him subjected to his primal fears, facing an unattainable lure.

Milan was always curious about the palace and its own little cosmos, but right now, he couldn't even enjoy the sudden tour through luxurious but empty corridors. No matter where he looked, he would only see paintings of old emperors and empresses, statues, and reliquaries, but no human presence, turning it into a haunted mansion instead of a gold-lined palace. But... right now, he could only see a round butt. His hypnosis ended when they passed through a carved double door depicting an ancient battlefield image of two armies. He didn't have time to look at it better while being led into the private room of the Empress herself. It seemed that preparations were already made because, in the middle of the room, a round little table was set up with two chairs facing each other.

"Sit." She said calmly, and it was not as if Milan could say no to his Empress, whom he had just sworn allegiance a moment ago. Looking around nervously, he sat down at one of the empty chairs and looked on with visible shock on his face while Mirian picked up the teapot, poured tea for him before serving some muffins, and sat down at the other side, looking at him silently. What was going on? Why is she looking at him like that? He felt like his mind was short-circuiting itself by just trying to comprehend his position. 

"T-thank you..." He mumbled, finally finding his voice. He reached for one of the muffins and bit into it. "Woah..." His reaction was honest and pure because it was superb. He had eaten a lot of different food, the best money could buy, but these ones tasted even better!

"You like it?" Mirian asked, finally showing an honest smile. After he nodded, a nervous sigh escaped her soft lips as she blushed. "I'm glad! I made it and tried to make sure it was perfect! Hauh, I'm happy you like it, ahaha! Yey!"

"W-wha...?" If not for his reflexes, he was sure the food would have fallen out of his mouth by how shocked he was at that moment. Whatever was happening was no longer making any sense.

"Look, Milly, you will need to come and visit me every day from now on, okay?"

"Milly?" He asked, feeling terrified because there were only two people who called him like that. His mother and his sister.

"Um, I know everything about you, ahaha! I saw you in the Academy once when I visited there. Aww, it was love at first sight, so I made sure I would know everything about you! Also, Milly, you will have to stop visiting brothels; I don't want to go around and kill filthy peasants, okay? We can't have sex yet, only after we are officially married. But! For that to happen, I will have to first raise your family's reputation, so be patient. If you need, you can come to me, and I will let you jerk off to my body; it will be all fine!"

"..." Milan wanted to ask something, but he found it impossible to formulate a thing to even consider as a question. This... This wasn't happening.

"I will give your family some tasks, but I will tell your father that YOU must achieve them, okay? When we are in private, like this, you can call me Miri, I'll let you, and you can even touch me! But not with your penis; that can only touch me after the ceremony! Now... Strip."

"W-what?" Milan asked, stuttering it out with great effort.

"Strip~! I am curious how it looks. Ehehehe! Hurry, hurry!"

Was this really happening? No. This was some weird fever dream back home. Yes. That is the only logical explanation.... Milan could no longer tell, but he knew that whatever was going on would either be the most embarrassing moment in his life or something that could mean it would be the last day of it...